An End and a New Beginning
by Veran Aval
Summary: This is a story about Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose in their final battle against the Grimm Queen Salem. In the end their destiny was already decided, but fate...has different plans for these two. A Lancaster Pairing (JauneXRuby) Maybe...
1. Prologue-The End Right?

"Jaune!" yelled Ruby as the blonde knight shielded her from a fatal attack by Salem. The dent in the 'invincible' shield of the Arc family a testament to how powerful Salem's strikes were.

"Ruby…you have to get out of here, without your speed and weapon…" said Jaune his words tinged with fatigue and worry as he glanced at the floor where Crescent Rose was in pieces, as well as…Ruby's broken legs. The damage looked bad, as the legs were twisted at an odd angle.

"I can still figt-ahh." Ruby tried to stand up, but her legs looked like it would give in an instant.

'Damn.' thought Jaune 'Ruby can barely walk, so her escaping would be almost impossible.'

"Jaune, behind you." Warned Ruby

Without taking his eyes off Salem, Jaune used his sword and swiftly impaled the Beowulf that was charging behind him with a backward strike, its body dissolving into dust. 'What, do I do?'

"Well, well Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose, it seems that this is where you journey ends." said Salem, her left hand glowing with a dark and menacing aura, while her right was holding a sword in a casual manner. Why wouldn't she be calm, all that faced her was a huntsman and huntress, albeit the most dangerous ones, but they were already on their last legs.

"Ironic though…that you would end your journey at the place where it all began, Beacon Academy and at the top of the tower as well"

Jaune didn't answer, his shield at the ready and his sword poised to strike at any time. He had to remain calm and wait for his moment to strike.

"It's funny though." continued Salem as she regarded both Jaune and Ruby "A place that was supposed to train huntsman and huntresses, but instead used as a gravestone for all their fallen. Where is Ozpin, where is Glynda, that man Qrow, Taiyang, Winter Schnee and even James Ironwood. Oh that's right…dead." taunted Salem her sword lashing out against Jaune's shield, but Jaune just rebuffed it.

"How many years ago was that two…three? Yet here you stand, making a last stand, a last decisive battle with all your gathered allies and friends, but what has happened to them, let me enlighten you." said Salem as she droned on like she was reading from a book that only she could see.

"Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, the last remains of your team, left at the entrance to Vale as they stalled for time. They prevented the hordes of Grimm from reinforcing those that were already inside the city and I must say they did an impressive job. Thousands of Grimm fell against those two, but ultimately...there were just too many for them to handle and as they laid on the ground in each other's arms you want to know what they said to each other Jaune Arc?." At this Salem grinned evilly "'I love you, as they were devoured by my Grimm."

"Ahh!" screamed Jaune as he used his sword to strike at Salem, his calm lost as he heard Salem speak of his team's death, but that was exactly what she wanted. As he struck she just blocked it with her own sword and kicked Jaune away from her.

"Not so fast Mr. Arc I am not done yet. "said Salem

"Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long , Sun Wukong and their motley crew of allies, were the next ones. Fighting in the suburban area of Vale, they slaughtered everything in their path; they were powerful, invincible...until Blake had to face her past."

At those words Jaune's eyes slightly widened 'It just couldn't be...but why?'

"Oh yes, you are probably wondering why the Faunus would still side with me when I declared to the entire world my intent to destroy both Humanity and the Faunus. I must say though, Blake was surprised as well and attempted to convince them to stop…too bad they were already dead as well."

Comprehension filled Jaune's mind at that moment "You…you monster!" yelled Jaune as he again attempted to bisect Salem in half, but was again blocked by that damned sword of hers.

"Oh yes, I am certainly a monster, but let me tell you it was quite difficult to force Grimm into the bodies of those Faunus, although...it really was worth it. Worth it to see Blake Belladonna be killed by those who she considered to be her kin!" said Salem as she used her sword to push Jaune away and unleashed a devastating combo of quick strikes. Jaune's shield spotted several more dents as it tried to weather the blow.

"That's where it all fell apart!" said Salem as she kept up her attacks, her sword already slicing through part of the Arc shield. "First it was Blake, then it was that Wukong boy, then one by one the allies of huntsman, huntresses and soldiers you gathered fell, until only one remained. Ruby's big sister Yang Xiao Long."

"Damn you Salem!" said Ruby as she moved to attack Salem with everything she had, even if she had no weapon, no semblance, she was not going to listen to this..this thing talk of her friend's deaths like it was worthless.

"Ruby stay right there!" yelled Jaune as he attempted to push Salem back, delivering a slash from Crocea Mors and bashing Salem with his dented shield.

"Let me tell you what happened to Yang Xiao Long, to that girl who had already lost an arm in combat." Said Salem as she deflected Jaune's sword attack and used her aura to blast him backwards. "Oh she was powerful, her semblance plowed through every Grimm, even the Grimm Dragons that stood in her way, she must have taken out dozens of them…however." With those words Salem immediately charged forward and slammed her sword into Jaune's shield this time it went though the shield, stopping halfway from Jaune's head. "She fell as well, losing her artificial arm, then every part of her limbs" said Salem her face so close to Jaune that all he could see were those red eyes.

As Jaune tried to tug the shield away from Salem's sword , he used the pommel of Crocea Mors to hit the woman's face which worked, her sword ripping out of the shield with a shriek. However, as she stumbled back she looked barely fazed from the hit, in fact she was smiling. Looking at his shield which was broken and dented, Jaune changed it back to its sheath form and grabbed ones of its ends, planning to dual wield both the sheath and Crocea Mors.

As Jaune got ready to attack he stopped slightly as he heard Salem's next words. "Let's not forgot the last two, Weiss Schnee and Neptune Vasilias . Even now they are trying to stop the Grimm from entering the tower, but let me tell you something." With this Salem took a pause and had a far-away look in her eyes, she then smiled. "They are now dead."

With those words despair entered Jaune's heart, everything was falling apart, their friends were gone, killed by Salem's pet Grimm. Salem herself was just too powerful and they were too weak to fight against her.

Seeing this Salem hammered the last nail into the coffin "You are weak Jaune Arc, you couldn't protect anyone, not your family, not your friends and especially not your previous partner Pyrrha Nikos!"

With that Jaune couldn't handle it, he was losing the will to fight and collapsed to his knees. It was true, everything said was correct, she was correct, he was a weak person who couldn't protect anyone. However, as he sank into his own despair, Ruby's voice cried out trying to make him listen.

"Jaune we can't give up now, not after everyone sacrificed themselves to get us this far. We need to keep going, to fight on to the end" pleaded Ruby

"Ruby…its over, we've lost, Salem has won, what else is there to do now?" said Jaune halfheartedly, as Salem just stood there waiting with a smirk on her face. Not even taking an opportunity to attack, confident in her total victory. However, Ruby Rose was not going to accept defeat, to lie down and accept that they were beaten. So she said the one thing that would always work on her friend.

"…Nopppe" said Ruby, her hands folded as she looked at her friend that was lying on the ground.

"…Ruby do not eve-"

"Nopppe"

"…"

"Jaune, even if all our friends are gone, even if it's only us left, we can't give up, not now not ever."

"…"

"Jaune look at me" said Ruby when Jaune didn't respond she repeated her words in a more forceful manner "Look at me Jaune Arc" and with that Jaune looked at her. "What do you see?"

With those words Jaune really looked at her, Ruby's hair was a mess, her skin was covered in scratches and bruises. Her legs didn't look bent anymore, 'She must have straightened them when he was fighting Salem' thought Jaune, but they looked like they would break down at any moment. Her mother's signature white cloak that adorned her shoulders, were in tatters and she herself seemed so exhausted that it was odd that she was still standing right now. All in all, she looked like she was in bad shape just like he was.

"…I don't kno-"started Jaune, but then he saw it. It was in her silver eyes, they didn't bear anymore power since she used most if not all of it in the fight with Salem, but it didn't bear any despair nor hopelessness. Instead it carried resolve, an indomitable will to continue on and it even carried a faint light of hope.

"…"

"Do you see it Jaune." asked Ruby her eyes meeting Jaune's blue ones.

"…Yes."

"Then…" with that Ruby outstretched her hand to Jaune who was lying on the floor. "…will you help me, will you continue on with me, Jaune?" said Ruby her eyes flickering slightly with power.

When Jaune saw that he couldn't help it, he laughed "Ha...Haha…HAHAHAHAHAHA…"

Startled Ruby withdrew her hand slightly "Hey! What's so funny!" she demanded as she pouted. 'You ruined my cool moment Jaune' she thought to herself.

"HAHAHA…I'm sorry Ruby it's just...strange to me, honest." said Jaune as he tried to control himself

"What's strange" replied Ruby as she tilted her head slightly

"Its nothing, nothing at all" said Jaune as he grasped Ruby's hand seeing the imagery of Ruby in her younger days with her red cloak. "Crater Face" he stated plainly as he lifted himself off the floor with Ruby's help.

With those words Ruby gained a slight blush on her face, and realized he was talking about the first time they met except this time she was helping him "Vomit Boy" she rebutted as she stood next to him.

"…You ready to end this now Ruby?" said Jaune as he picked up the sheath of Crocea Mors and the sword itself.

"Always" she replied as her eyes flickered for a moment, then reignited again with the same power she used in the beginning. Looks like she still had some power left to use.

Throughout this entire time Salem was silent, watching the two pull themselves together, but she wasn't silent for long and with a mighty pull of power she blasted both of them with dark aura, to burn them, to turn them into ash, but that girl. That damnable silver eyed girl Ruby Rose projected a shield over both of them and that Jaune Arc charged her! A person of unimaginable power and he charges her minutes after he was in the pits of despair. 'What were these two!' However, these thoughts that Salem was having was interrupted as she had to block that damn Arc's swing as it came for her head.

Jaune used Crocea Mors repeatedly, the sides, overhead, underneath, he kept swinging with skill and precision making each strike count. Each strike was more ferocious, more faster then the last and even Salem was beginning to tire out, but it wasn't going to be enough. Even with Ruby providing support from long-range with her aura blasts she couldn't keep it up forever. So Jaune Arc analyzed tactic after tactic, move after move, until finally when his scabbard blocked another of Salem's sword strikes he found a chance and he took it. "Ruby" he yelled as he used his eyes to convey to Ruby what the plan was.

Ruby hearing Jaune yell looked at where he was glancing at and understood immediately what they were doing; she hadn't been Jaune's partner for the last few years for nothing after all. "Got it" replied Ruby as she used her aura to blast herself towards Jaune's back.

As Salem blocked another blow from Crocea Mors, Jaune jumped back slightly and said"Hey Salem…catch" and then he did the most incredible and possibly stupidest thing in the history of Remnant. He popped open his shield, bashed Salem back and then actually threw his shield, his only defensive protection, at Salem like a Frisbee. While most historians would criticize his action, Salem had other thoughts though.

'I see...you're planning to use that girl's power to break the shield since it's already taken so many hits from me. Thus, making a formidable blast of light aura shards that could hurt me…to bad it won't work!' and with that Salem prepared to used her dark aura to make a shield in front of her. But as Ruby Rose grabbed onto Jaune's back and used her power it didn't hit the shield, it actually passed it…and hit just slightly to the left of Salem…right where the remains of Crescent Rose was…

"Ahhhhhh-"screamed Salem as her entire side was torn by tiny light infused shrapnel from the broken pieces of Ruby's precious scythe, the aura she had collected in her left hand disappearing 'Oh no…' she thought to herself as she realized her concentration was gone and quickly trie-

"Hey Salem…say hello to Cinder Fall and all those other people in Hell for me will you" stated Jaune as he was right in front of Salem with Crocea Mors posed to stab her through. Not only that, Crocea Mors was shining from pure aura from Ruby Rose as she was next to Jaune grasping Crocea Mors grip, the two holding it together…

'But that's impossible… Aura can't intermingle they are manifestations of souls so ho-'that was Salem's last thoughts, but in those few precious milliseconds she saw it. The eyes of both Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc, their eyes…were not the same. In one eye Ruby Rose had a silver eye…but in the other it was a sky blue. The same could be said for Jaune Arc, and in that moment Salem knew, she understood…and she was afraid.

"DIE!" both Ruby and Jaune shouted as Crocea Mors stabbed Salem's body, breaking through her natural aura protection and running her through. Pure aura destroyed her insides, seeking, and purifying everything it touched, until the light finally ebbed, then died. For a few seconds Salem's body stood there, but with a solid thud on the ground it fell with Crocea Mors sticking out of the body. It was over...Salem was dead for good and if one listened closely...you couldn't hear the growls from the Beowulfs and Ursas. No more flying sounds of Nevermore, Griffons and Dragons. It was just silence in the ruined City of Vale, an eerily silence, but a sign that everything was done. Salem was powerful, incredibly strong, she was the Grimm Queen after all, but with her dead the power that held the Grimm together was gone and thus they just…disappeared.

As the sun shined over the horizon marking a new dawn for this victory, there were two people left on top of the tower watching it. Sitting together, leaning against one another with their backs supported by the broken pillars, they just talked. The silver eyed girl and the blue eyed boy, not as a young man or woman, just as kids…for one last time.

"Hey Jaune remember that time…where Yang..."

"Yeah…how about that…"

"That was pretty funny…"

"Yeah…it sure was"

"…"

"…Hey Jaune…"

"...Yes...Ruby…"

"…Be honest with me…we're dying aren't we…" Ruby stated sadly her eyes watering, but still retaining her bright smile as she looked over to Jaune.

"…Yes…we are." replied Jaune sadly, he knew that without aura they would be dead soon enough, they had so many wounds over their bodies, that even with aura it was unlikely they would live. That last attack also drained their entire aura reserves and then some, it sapped the literal life out of them. In other words…they were already dead, their bodies just didn't realize that fact just yet.

"…Hey Jaune…"

"…Yes Ruby?" said Jaune as he looked at Ruby Rose for possibly the last time. Her silver eyes stared at him, as her hair slowly moved in the cool breeze.

"…Close your eyes would you…" Jaune noticed that Ruby was slightly blushing, but he just chuckled and closed his eyes.

"…It's closed so wh-"that was all Jaune said before he felt a pressure on his cheek.

"…You're a good friend Jaune and a good person…" said Ruby as her peck on his cheek ended. Her face was red from embarrassment.

Opening his eyes, Jaune just smiled at Ruby and then looked at the rising Sun as he slowly clos-

"…Hey Jaune…" interrupted Ruby

"…yes…Ruby…" as Jaune once again looked at his friend

"…That was a thing…" Ruby said with a smirk much like a certain sister of hers.

"…Ruby don't' yo-"started Jaune, but before he finished his sentence, his mouth was covered by the one and only Ruby Rose their lips connected for a brief few seconds until they separated.

"Goodbye...Jaune Arc" said Ruby as her eyes watered even more, tears starting to fall from her face, but her smile was still bright as ever. It was infectious and before long Jaune Arc also smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Goodbye…Ruby Rose" and for the last time with the rising sun accentuating both their figures. Our heroes Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose closed their eyes for all eternity...that was how it was supposed to end for the both of them...but fate always had a different opinion on the matter.

Prologue End…

* * *

 **Hello Everybody, My name is Veran Aval and this is my first actual fanfic on this site…actually in my entire life. So I hoped you enjoyed, if it's not up to your standards I do apologize and will work hard to fix my problems. I appreciate all reviews and criticisms, as well as he-**

 ***BANG BANG**

"… **Give me a minute guys" *Sound of door opening and slight arguing happening out of screen.**

" **I didn't get any scre…"**

" **Next chapter…I pro.."**

" **Bett….el…" *Door closing and Veran walks back onto screen**

" **Ehh…sorry about that guys…just a slight problem with an OC that I made and no worries she will only appear for 1 chapter…probably…hopefully…anyways thanks for reading and see you next time"**

 **-Veran Aval out**


	2. Chapter 1-Recollections

**Hello Everybody Veran Aval Here, just want to say that this is a bit of an info dump, if you don't want to read this that's fine. It's just information on trying to cover and sew up the plot holes that appear after Vol. 3 and how it leads up to the Prologue, also not as much dialogue as I would like…still I can always come back and rewrite this…**

 **Edit: I came back to rewrite this, to be honest I think Chapter 1 was bad, I skipped too many important scenes and brushed off alot of interaction, but not this time, this time I give you the new and improved chapter. Most of the changes come from the last parts of this so Enjoy.**

 **Anyway, all Credit goes to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum for creating RWBY. I don't own anything except the ideas that sprout out of my head and the OC Re-*A foot smashes down on the author's face**

" **SHHHH... you'll ruin the chapter"**

 **"..."**

" **Umm…Veran?... Veran?...Well…ummm…welcome to Chapter 1 Everybody Enjoy."**

* * *

Chapter 1 Recollections…

Jaune could feel himself floating, it wasn't a pleasant feeling, but it wasn't a bad one either. It was like he was dead, but not at the same time.

However, as he floated around in limbo going to who knows where, Jaune had a lot to think about. Of his professors and mentors who had died trying to save as many people as possible from Salem's plots and rampage, but paid the ultimate price for their duty.

Of his family, the Arcs, who had saved him, his team and RWBY from destruction as Salem's forces assaulted them to no end as they attempted to evacuate, but were annihilated by Grimm numbering in the millions. Jaune shed a few tears at that memory, even to this day he could still remember his eldest sister Julie throwing him onto the airship and watching the wave of Grimm swarm all over the place.

"How could things go so wrong…" muttered Jaune as he closed his eyes thinking on the events that lead to the downfall of the kingdoms, of the near extinction of all of Humanity and Faunus.

After the Fall of Beacon we were still so optimistic about finding and stopping whoever was behind these events, but all we found in Haven were dead ends and false leads. For weeks we stayed in Haven, but we still found nothing.

Finally we all decided to go to Atlas to find clues there and maybe get Weiss back from her father. However, as we traveled, the situation became a whole lot worse.

After the Fall, the Kingdoms trust in each other fell to an all-time low, not since the Great War between the four kingdoms was it this bad. Vacuo and the remains of Vale's people were suspicious of Atlas, the latter angrier as they saw for themselves the destruction of what Atlas's own forces caused to the city.

At first it was only small airship skirmishes between the three with Mistral declaring neutrality. Nothing too serious and we had hoped we could find enough information to help stop the war that was surely brewing between the kingdoms, but that was all dashed when we arrived at Atlas.

When we arrived at Atlas we heard of some news, that the Schnee Dust Company, the Company that was the biggest provider of Dust had gone bankrupt. Apparently, with the growing Grimm activity, and the intensifying attacks from the still controlled White Fang on its mining operations the Company was not making enough profit to make up for the losses.

Even involving the Atlas military did not help the situation and soon enough with mining operations suspended and dust shipments lost, the Schnee's main source of income dried up, eventually forcing them to close down. Without the main provider of Dust, and no one big enough to fill the gaps left by the Schnees, the market literally crashed. We were so reliant on Dust to run everything that once it was gone...we just couldn't handle the backlash.

Dust prices rose so high that it was easier to brave the wild lands and mine it yourself. Riots happened in every city as power went out and the situation wasn't helped by the White Fang as they prompted the Faunus labor to rebel. However, the worst part of it all was that the kingdoms were mobilizing their armies to claim their opponent's lands for resources necessarily to survive.

Luckily, in all that chaos and confusion we found Weiss, who was oddly enough staying at a hotel. We asked her what happened…but she wouldn't talk about it, her eyes looked haunted and red like she had been crying. Even though I don't know what exactly happened, I am sure it had to do with her father…and his death.

After we had collected Weiss, we all decided to head back to Vale to regroup and hopefully find Blake who had ran off after Beacon's Fall. Of course we didn't believe she ran away from the fighting, but that she ran to protect us.

I don't know the exact details, but Ruby told me and my team that Blake was once with the White Fang. That must be connected to the reason she is hiding from us, Blake always did cherish her friends more than her own life…

As soon as we reached Vale we tried to search for Blake, but unlike Weiss she was much harder to find. I finally got fed up and went to get Yang to help, but that…wasn't the most pleasant memory

* * *

"… Yang…its Jaune and your sister Ruby…we came to see how you were doing." said Jaune as he knocked on the door for the fifth time that day.

As usual there was no answer and no acknowledgement from Yang. With the door being locked from the inside, they couldn't just barge in either.

Finally, Jaune became a little angry at this. Who could blame him? His partner was gone, he went to Haven to find clues and found nothing. Then he went to Atlas to find more clues, and upon arriving discovered that the World was on the brink of war.

Luckily, they found Weiss, got her back to Vale and tried to find Blake for the last week, but turned up with no idea at where she went. So pardon him if his patience was running thin at the moment.

"Umm…Jaune..." asked Ruby as she saw the state her friend was in right now.

"Yes Ruby, what is it?" Jaune said between clenched teeth, as he turned to Ruby his smile at her appeared a little strained.

"Are you…are you okay…?"

"Oh, just fine, thank you for asking." replied Jaune, as he again raised his fist for the sixth time to knock on the door. "Yang? Can you please open the door or at least acknowledge our existence, if you don't bad things might happen." After five seconds passed, then ten, Jaune finally snapped and raised his foot.

"Uhh…Jaune what ar-"started Ruby, but her words were muffled from the sounds of the door crashing from its hinges revealing Yang Xiao Long sitting in her bed wide-eyed at Jaune's actions.

"Well good morning Yang…I thought you were sleeping so sorry if I knocked a little too loud" said Jaune cheerfully as he walked into the room, ignoring the fact that he basically kicked the door down.

However, after the initial surprise Yang just looked out the window not even facing Jaune as he talked. Still that wasn't going to stop him, "Well Yang, to be honest, we need your help in finding your partner Blake, she's been missing for a while now and it would be easier if we had your contacts to help"

"…"

"…"

"…Who cares" said Yang her only hand clenching the sheets.

"What did you say…" said Jaune his hair hanging down on his face. It had gotten slightly longer these past few weeks so it completely obscured his eyes, Ruby who saw this scooted slightly away from Jaune.

"…I said who cares, Blake ran away, it doesn't matter that she's gone or missing to me, so why should I help you" replied Yang her face still faced out the window, not noticing Jaune's increasing anger.

"...She is your friend..."

" Not anymore she isn't" said Yang indifferent to Jaune's words

"…Your Partner..."

"…So…"

*Smack, a sound of a hand making contact with skin could be heard resounding throughout the entire house. If one knew Jaune Arc, they would describe him as a kind young man, a boy even, who tried to help everybody around him.

Someone who wouldn't dare hurt any of his friends or family members and would sacrifice everything to keep them safe. However, at this moment there was no trace of that boy in the Jaune that was currently in Yang's room, his eyes were not kind, but were blazing with a silent fury.

"You…you..." stuttered Yang as she held her stinging cheek that was slapped by a person she least expected to do so.

"You…you are so fortunate Yang, at least you still have a partner." said Jaune slowly as he tried to reign his anger in.

"Jaune…I…" Yang tried to say something as she realized that Jaune's partner was…

"No…let me speak." as Jaune held up his hand to signify that Yang should be quiet. "Yang…you know for a fact that I would give everything to have Pyrrha back, even if she ran away from me or couldn't stand me anymore, I would sacrifice everything to save her, if I could…but I just wasn't strong enough."

"Jau-"

"I'm not finished" interrupted Jaune. "Every day, I wonder if I could have done something differently, if I could have been more aware or stronger…then Pyrrha could still be here with me, but you still have your partner right Yang?"

"But she ra-"

"I AM NOT DONE." said Jaune not yelling, but his tone demanded that she listen and that shut Yang up. For some reason Yang wasn't able to go against the anger that filled the Arc's eyes. "I am not saying that Blake is blameless in this, but you know for a fact that she would not run away from you without a reason"

"But my ar-"

"Do you regret it?"

"What?"

"Do you regret trying to save Blake, Yang? Is Blake's life worth an arm that could be replaced Yang? Is it?!" yelled Jaune as his eyes and tone became harsh and full of derision. This made Yang become angry at what Jaune was implying.

"Of course it's worth i-!" Yang stopped herself from speaking, her true feelings finally showing on the surface.

"I thought so" said Jaune as he nodded at Yang his anger abated and his kind façade back to normal. "So are you going to help us?"

"…"

"Yang…" Jaune's tone turned slightly dark again, did he have to snap again?

"Yeah…yeah calm down Vomit boy, I'll help you find Blake…I need to…discuss thing with her anyway" she replied.

"Good, so get dressed and meet us outside, we have a lot of work to do, oh and Weiss is here as well so hurry up, the quicker we find Blake, the faster we reform team RWBY again." Jaune said kindly as he began to walk out of the bedroom.

"Hey Jaune wait…"

"Hmm?" Jaune stopped as he looked to see what Yang wanted from him

"Can you hand me the shirt that's in the drawer over there?" Yang said as she pointed to a drawer that was right next to Jaune.

"Sure, no problem" replied Jaune as he reached downwards to open the drawer.

"Wait, Jaune tha-"Ruby who was silent during Jaune's yelling tried to say something, but before she did Jaune had already opened the drawer and had taken out the shirt Yang wanted…except...it wasn't a shirt.

"GIRLS are you okay? Your uncle and I heard scre-" Taiyang, Ruby's and Yang's father came into the room and close behind him was their uncle Qrow. However, he wasn't looking at the busted door or at Yang's cheek that spotted a very nasty handprint. No…he was looking directly at Jaune and what was in his hand…which was Yang's undergarments, most specifically…her bra.

"Wait I can expl-" Jaune being the ever dense idiot he was tried to hold his hands up to explain to Taiyang and Qrow that it was all a misunderstanding. However, as he held his hands up in a surrender motion, out of his hands came out a crumpled piece of cloth, and again being the idiot that he is Jaune Arc picked it up and discovered that it was…Yang's underwear.

"Oh dam-" Jaune didn't get to finish his words because Taiyang had literally punched the guy out the window that Yang was previously looking out of, and in a display of agility befitting a professional huntsman dived right after Jaune.

Qrow on the other hand looked at the broken window then at Yang's smirking face and Ruby's face palming. Then he shrugged, pulled out his canteen of alcohol that he had in his inner pocket, drank a few drops and then after he was finished leapt right out after Taiyang, trying to save Jaune…or preserve his body.

"Yang…you didn't have to do that you know" Ruby said sighing as she saw the carnage her father was wrecking.

"Oh…I know…" said Yang as she watched Jaune try to dodge a strike from her father, and fail horribly barreling into a tree and smashing through it…and through the next one…and the next one…

"…You're lucky that Jaune has a lot of aura…"

"…Yeah I think your right…hey Ruby." Said Yang as she turned away from the sight of Taiyang beating Jaune senseless and looked at her sister.

"…Yes my dear sister…" Ruby replied as she stopped watching her father begin breaking her first friend's back.

"We have a good friend don't we…" Yang stated her mouth turning into a smile

"…Yes, yes we do." Said Ruby her own smile returning Yang's own, it was good to have her sister back.

"MERCY, MERCY PLEASE!"

* * *

Jaune winced at the memory, Taiyang almost murdered him, and if it wasn't for Qrow they would be carrying his bloody body to the hospital to recover in intensive care for years. Still…it was worth it, with Yang back to her old self, she helped immensely in trying to track down her partner.

It wasn't surprising that Yang was familiar in the more…criminal matters of Vale's underground. It also helped that anyone who tried to get in her way or fight back was dealt with severely by Yang being…well…Yang.

Jaune made a motion to rub his eyes as he remembered a particular person named Junior who had his bar wrecked by Yang as she searched for answers regarding Blake's location. It seemed that they knew each other before and that Junior thought that Yang losing her arm would mean that she couldn't fight at all.

That…that was a mistake as Yang basically pummeled everyone there with her new and improved artificial limb. Yeah…her new artificial limb that was made of the same material that Atlas's Paladins were made of…don't ask how she got it. Let's just say…it wasn't a pretty sight and that Junior had one less thing to worry about when he got married…

Getting back on track, we found Blake; yep her location was in one of the abandoned Vale apartments and she wasn't alone. Sun and his team had discovered her a week ago and were with her as they were investigating extensively into the White Fang's involvement with the Fall of Beacon tracking down leads to find out who the real mastermind was behind it all.

Still, it wasn't as peaceful of a reunion as we liked, Yang had basically dragged Blake into a room kicking and screaming and when they came out. Well…Yang was sporting several claw marks on her face, a black eye and most noticeably her blonde hair seemed to be…several inches smaller.

Blake on the other hand had a split lip, two black eyes and a somewhat oddly shaped nose; however the good news was that Yang was smiling and Blake looked less gloomy. Include the fact that they didn't do any lasting damage that their aura couldn't solve, helped relieve us that everything was okay between the two.

It was a nostalgic day having team RWBY back together, but the news still wasn't good. Blake and Sun's team had not found anything and the War between all the Kingdoms were drawing closer every day. Before we knew it, we were out of time…

* * *

"Jaune…Jaune wake up" said a voice as Jaune felt his shoulders being moved.

With a slight yawn Jaune got up and stared at Ruby who was in her pajamas and had a very scared look on her face.

"Ruby? What's wrong? "said Jaune as he tried to stay awake, for now they were all staying in the abandoned apartment so sleeping wa-.

"Jaune…all the kingdoms are coming here to Vale" said Ruby her voice betraying her fear.

"What? Why? Is it to talk things out Ruby…please tell me that's the reason they are coming here." replied Jaune as he fully woke up and had a sudden dreadful feeling of Ruby's next words.

"Jaune…they aren't coming to talk...they are coming to take Vale as their own."

"No…" Jaune knew at that moment between all the Kingdoms', Vale was the weakest right now, its Academy gone, its military still there, but far behind the others like the technologically advanced Atlas or the discipline of Mistral's troops. Against only Vacuo they might have stood a chance, but only because they had terrain advantage, take that away...

"How long Ruby?" said Jaune

"…" Ruby didn't answer him as she started to shake with tears in her eyes; this was too much for the fifteen year old girl.

"Ruby…please tell me how long?" Jaune said once again as he grasped Ruby's arms firmly, but not tightly.

"…I heard that we have at least a week before they get their supplies and land their troops." Ruby shakily replied back.

…Safe to say there wasn't enough time to do anything, so we did what we had to…and evacuated the City of Vale into emergency shelters and hideouts. The teachers and professors like Glynda, Oobleck and Port stayed behind to make sure everyone had evacuated and to somehow avert the coming disaster.

General Ironwood…or former General Ironwood, he was stripped of his rank after the Fall, stayed behind as well to meet with his former subordinate and, sister of Weiss, Winter Schnee.

We waited with everyone else in those shelters prepared to guard them with our lives, Sun's team had also stayed with us, stating that their duty was to the people not their government…good guys those four. However, as the minutes went by we finally heard it.

It was a faint shot, and then a second, then a cascade of shots echoed far away from us. It went on for hours, with loud booms going off in the distance. My hands were gripping the pommel of Crocea Mors, but I stayed put, to investigate and see what was happening would be dangerous for the people left. So I waited with everyone else…until there was no noise left to hear and when we got out of those shelters, we were greeted with a horrific sight.

* * *

"Jaune, are you sure we should be going out now, I mean it could still be dangerous" said Sun Wukong as he followed Jaune from behind, his staff held tightly in his right hand.

"We need to find out what's going on Sun, besides all the noise stopped an hour ago" replied Jaune as he moved to open the entrance of the door.

"Hey Jaune maybe we should wa-"Sun's words dried up in his mouth as the door opened on a scene that was like a picture from Hell.

Their shelter was far away enough that there shouldn't be any danger, but it seemed liked they barely escaped from it. In the distance the City of Vale was covered in smoke and ruined buildings, and bodies could be seen close by.

Some of them were bearing the mark of Vale army regulars, others bearing Mistral, Atlas or Vacuo insignia. However, they had one thing in common, all of them had died either by dust shells or…Grimm marks.

"Of course…with all this death…it would definitely bring the Grimm here…"muttered Jaune as he felt nauseous from the sight. He wanted to throw up, but he held it in and looked around for any survivors.

"Jaune…"

"What is it Sun? "said Jaune as he stopped his search and looked towards his friend.

"Jaune there's a figure on top of Beacon's tower." said Sun his eyes slightly narrowed in the direction of Beacon

"Wait…how can you…never mind Faunus senses forgot, can you see who it is." asked Jaune

"No clue…but-"started Sun, but he was interrupted by a loud voice. A female voice that was heard over the entire world.

"Humanity and Faunus...so easily divided...so easily deceived...as they destroy each other to the last man and woman. This is how the Four Kingdoms fall...with their armies shattered and their people undefended. My name...is Salem...and I am the Grimm Queen. The one that shall watch this world burn and there is nothing! Nothing that can stop that from happening now. Know that this end waits for you all, and that it was made by your own hands."

In that moment as Jaune listened to this woman talk, he knew that this woman was at fault. That everything that happened, Pyrrha's death, Beacon's Fall, the destruction and war that he saw before him was this woman's plan…this woman named Salem.

* * *

After that, it was all history, following that announcement Grimm began to spread around Vale hunting anyone that remained alive in the area. That was when my team, RWBY and amazingly CFVY, who were in another shelter, began to evacuate the civilians away from Vale with any remaining airship that was still flyable.

It didn't matter if it was commercial or military, they had to get everyone out of there. Sun's team was designated as the ones who would arrive first at the evacuation site to make sure it was secure so it was our teams, with some survivors of police and soldiers, of any kingdom, who made their stand to defend the evacuation zone.

Funny really, how the threat from a mad woman who claimed to be the Queen of Grimm would bring Humanity together…not like it really mattered anyway as our armies were decimated beyond repair and reports came in that the other kingdoms were suddenly under attack by massive amounts of Grimm.

However, this is when I lost something important to me, my parents…my sisters, they died in my place so their son and brother could run away…

"Jaune! There's too many of them we have to fall back." yelled Ruby as she slashed another Beowulf in half with Crescent Rose.

"As much as I would like to disagree...Ruby's right we can't hold against this many." Weiss stated as she used a glyph to flip a Boarbatusk and used her rapier to kill it.

"We can't do that guys, we fall back now the people behind us will get caught up in the fight, we need to hol-" said Jaune before he was interrupted by an Ursa's strike, he blocked it with his shield and with immense difficulty Jaune pushed it back and proceeded to stab it in its chest.

"We need to hold here…no matter what." Jaune finished as he pulled his sword out of the dissolving Ursa's body, turning to see another Ursa running at him, this one having more bone armor then the last one.

As it barreled towards him, Jaune dodged at the last second and it rammed itself right into Nora's Hammer, its body flying straight into the air. With this Jaune could observe the situation at hand and take a breather from the battle…and it was not looking good.

The Huntsman and Huntresses were doing well, Ren was assisting team CFVY as they took on several Alphas, and Yang with Blake was using effective combos to take any Grimm down. The other teams, those who he didn't learn their names as of yet, were also doing their fair share.

They were trained to fight against the creatures of Grimm and they were performing admirably, but the same could not be said for the soldiers and policemen. The officers had no aura so they were the ones most in danger of receiving any fatal wounds, but the soldiers were the ones he was most concerned about.

Their armor was cracked and damaged, they looked fatigued and worst of all their weapons were running out of ammunition

For the Huntsman, Huntresses and even the Police Officers they were relatively rested and also carried a fair bit of dust cartridges for their weapons, but for the soldiers who had already fought a battle between each other, then against Grimm…they were reaching their limit.

Some had even pulled out their combat knives when their weapons ran out to fight the Grimm off and while it was working for the time being, it was inevitable that the numbers would overwhelm them.

'There must be something we can do' Jaune thought to himself, but every tactic he had was too risky and then he heard it. It was a loud roar in the air, then another…and another, until the whole area above him was filled with large shadowy figures.

"Oh no…" said a military officer right next to Jaune as he looked towards the sky.

"It's hopeless..."stated another

Jaune couldn't help but agree and swallowed hard, because above him were not the figures of one Grimm Dragon, nor was it two, but of five of them. Five massive figures that kept dropping Grimm like there was no tomorrow.

"Jaune…Jaune! Jaune snap out of it we need you to help us out" yelled Ruby as she stared above her. It was weird her eyes were flickering white.

"Yeah Vomit Boy, get your head in the game, you must have some tactic that would work in this situation" said Yang as she punched a Beowulf away from her, while Blake used Gambol Shroud to protect her back.

"We need to…fall back for now, the evacuation should be done, so fall back in a fighting formation, Huntsman and Huntresses and anyone with aura at the front with Officers, as well as Soldiers providing fire support. Those who are out of ammunition fall back first" ordered Jaune, he was calm on the outside, but every time he looked up he knew that those dragons could also come down at any moment and end them.

As they pulled back, to the evacuation site, they were relieved that there was still some airships left to take them out. However…

"Where is team CFVY" Jaune yelled out not seeing any of the members among the people who retreated.

"Jaune…they stayed behind to give us more time" stated Ren his voice fatigued from the fighting, he looked to be in pain as he held his side.

"What! You got to be kidding me we ha-"

"We can't Jaune…they are out there trying to buy you time...don't let their sacrifice go in vain" said Ren as tried to keep his leader focused on the task at hand.

"Dammit…Dammit!" Get on the damn airships everyon-" *ROAR

The Dragon Grimm that was circling them at the time finally came down upon them; their mouths wide open as they descended.

Even though the land based Grimm were being handled by CFVY, the dragons were much harder to stop. As they flew down, their large bodies made shadows over the people, Jaune knew that this was the end for them.

Most were exhausted and the huntsman and huntresses couldn't fight these things, not as they currently were. However, he didn't need to, as figures rained down on the Grimm Dragons from above.

These figures all had varying degrees of weaponry, one had a halberd, another had dual axes and even one of the individuals had a shield with sharpened edges around it. However, all these figures bore one similar thing, on their chest plates they bore the symbol of the dual crescents.

The Arc Family had arrived and in no time at all Jaune's sisters, for who else could it have been, worked together to take down three of the Grimm dragons. Their weapons making large wounds on the creatures wings as they fell down scattering those nearby. Once they were down the sisters had all beheaded the Grimm Dragons with precision and skill that all Arcs were born with.

The last two were taken down personally by Jaune's mother as she used her semblance to 'tame' the Grimm to her will, forcing her own aura onto the creature and making it hers, she then set it loose on the remaining Dragon.

As Jaune watched all of this he was amazed at his family, they...they were the real Heroes who had come to save the day arriving just on time. Later on Jaune would find out that they had actually been travelling to Vale to confront Salem, but had met Sun's team when they were trying to secure the area where everyone was supposed to evacuate to.

When they heard of the evacuation they dropped everything, commandeered a bullhead, and ultimately...well...they crashed it into a Nevermore and had to jump out. Hey Arcs were brave and smart, but they weren't the greatest when it came to modern dust technology.

Before Jaune knew it all the Grimm Dragons were taken care of and before him was his father Julian Arc, he looked like Jaune but taller with a long sword on his back...and he did not look happy.

In one hit, Jaune was on his back holding his face as his dad had punched him, his friends and surprisingly those who saw what happened had moved to defend him. At this, when Julian Arc saw Jaune crowded around by not only his friends, but by those who he had led, he just smiled and when Jaune was up his father hugged him.

"Jaune..." said Julian "I am angry that you didn't keep in contact with us after Beacon fell...we were worried sick for you...but I am proud of you because you became a good man my boy."

"Dad...but I'm not..." Jaune started to say that he wasn't any of those, he was a weakling, someone who couldn't save his own partner.

"Jaune...look around you" said Julian gruffly, as he tried to get rid of Jaune's self-esteem problem. "Are those the faces of people who believe that you are not good enough?"

Jaune did look, some of the people around him were dirty and tired, but they were alive because of Jaune's strategies and tactics, they all acknowledged Jaune's abilities.

Even if some of them fell to the Grimm, they died knowing that they gave every second they had to defend the innocent instead of fighting for selfish reasons among each other.

"You did good Jaune...know that we lo-" Julian tried to say something, but the roars of more Grimm interrupted what he was going to say.

Before everyone's eyes more Grimm appeared, their numbers seemed endless and above them appeared even more Grimm Dragons. At this sight, the Arc Family made a loose formation against the mass of Grimm.

Julian upon seeing all this yelled out to one of his daughters "Julie make sure your brother makes it on an airship and get these people moving!"

"Wait...what are yo-" Jaune tried to say something, but his father had already moved towards the rest of the family while Julie his eldest sister arrived to push him towards a bullhead that was waiting for passengers. "Everyone get on an airship and don't worry about the Grimm...we won't let any of them get pass until your gone." Julie instructed those who could hear.

At this people turned to Jaune for instructions and when he gave a nod , everyone followed his orders piling into the airships to get out of here.

"Wait...what about you guys" said Ruby as she stayed next to Jaune as everyone evacuated.

"We're going to be the last ones out" replied Julie as she adjusted her weapons, which was a simple lance and shield, on her back.

"Alright then, my team and RWBY we'll help you un-" Jaune started to say, but Julie interrupted him.

"Don't worry about it little brother, we can handle it so just get going" However, Jaune didn't move from where he was standing.

He stayed silent, intending to make sure everyone was evacuated, as Julie moved towards Ruby to say something to her, for a moment Ruby looked frozen, and then she looked at Jaune, to Julie, then to Jaune again, she opened her mouth to say something, but Julie again said something to her.

After that...Ruby just nodded stiffly and moved to flag down a bullhead to come pick them up.

Finally as the bullhead landed with its doors open and with RWBY plus his team on board he turned to his sister and in turn his sister looked at him. As the sounds of Arc battle cries and weapons started to permeate the air Jaune realized something...his transport was the only one left.

"...Julie don't tel-" Jaune started to say something, but his chest plate was grabbed and with a swing he landed inside the bullhead with a loud thud.

"Jaune just know that we don't think of you as a failure, yes we were always worried for you, but that doesn't mean we didn't believe in you. You are an Arc Jaune…but you are also your own person…so continue on not as an Arc, but as Jaune Arc a person who would try to help everybody he could…we don't want you to change little brother…so...Goodbye." said Julie as she turned away from the bullhead which was rapidly gaining altitude.

"Wait...wait!" Jaune screamed as everyone held him down from jumping as the bullhead flew. He knew it, he knew that something was wrong when she asked them to go ahead. He was an Arc dammit, let him die with his family.

"Jaune...we are so sorry...but we need you, all of us do...and...and you sister asked us to do this...so please" said Ruby as tears ran down her face.

"You knew...you all knew and you let this happen, why?! Why?!" said Jaune as he struggled even more. "LET ME GO!" but Jaune Arc was too weak, he was the weakest out of all of them and he couldn't shake them off. Before he knew it all he could see was a wave of Grimm descending upon nine figures as they fought with everything they had.

Jaune, knew what they were doing...they were trying to stem the tide, to stop the Grimm from pursuing the ships, but this wasn't fair, this was not fair at all.

As his struggles lessened and his friend Ruby whispered "Sorry" after "Sorry" to him he could do only one thing, he cried. He cried as he saw his family be destroyed in front of him, while he Jaune Arc, the coward, the weakling, ran away.

* * *

Afterwards it was just them, with the survivors of Vale fleeing from the Grimm invasion of Remnant. However, out of that tragedy was a new resolve and when Qrow and Taiyang joined them , the remains of JNR, RWBY, SSSN and any team that still had huntsmen/huntresses trained for a year, learning everything there was to be as hunters of Grimm. There weren't many of us left...but each and every one us trained till we couldn't move.

To be honest, Jaune didn't talk to Ruby at all for many months, they both had short conversations with Ruby doing most of the talking, but Jaune couldn't get it out of his head.

He understood that Ruby had no choice in the matter...but he just couldn't do it, couldn't forgive her. It wasn't until Qrow and Taiyang had to fight off Grimm that he understood what Ruby had felt when he was made to drag her off and tell her that he was "Sorry" on that day as well, he also knew what Julie told Ruby to convince her to force him to go...it was the same thing Taiyang said to him.

"Please, please, take my daughters away from here...and tell them that I love them both." After watching Ruby cry her eyes out, and Yang standing there with an unemotional face Jaune understood what Ruby had to do and tried to talk to her every day.

At first she did the same thing Jaune did, ignored him or made short sentences, but eventually she opened up again. "Hehh...Ruby was a better friend then I was..." said Jaune as he remembered a particular memory

"Ruby please talk to me, I understand why you dragged me back now, so please talk to me." pleaded Jaune as he tried again to make Ruby open up to him.

"Jaune...there's nothing to talk about you did what you had to do and that's that" said Ruby tonelessly as she glanced at Jaune then looked away again working on Crescent Rose.

"Ruby"

"..." Ruby just ignored him and started dissembling the mechanisms of her weapon, cleaning each individual part.

"...I have no choice" muttered Jaune as he started to do something that his father once told him was the only way to abate a woman's anger, especially against his mother...he got down on one knee.

"Ruby Rose..."said Jaune softly, when Ruby gave him a glance she dropped her cleaning cloth, her face taking a very red color and her mouth slightly open.

'Its working!' Jaune thought to himself triumphantly, he smiled inwardly thanking his Dad for the advice. Imagining his father Julian doing a thumbs up for his efforts. Now what was the next line...Oh!

"Would you Ruby Rose..." said Jaune again as he held out his hand in the gesture that his dad taught him, as Ruby's face turned even redder…very odd.

"Do me the honor..." Since they were in a hideout from Salem's forces privacy was scarce so when people saw their supposed leader on one knee people were paying close attention.

"Of for-" Jaune was about to say 'forgiving', but before he could his head was smashed by an armored fist and he went flying into a nearby wall, the owner of said fist was Yang, and her face...you can imagine what was on her face at the moment.

"Well...Well Jaune, what do you think you are doing to my sister?" said Yang as she cracked her fists, her artificial arm was bending! Literally it was bending from the strength that she was putting in her real hand!

"I was ju-" Jaune started to say, but stopped when Yang held one finger up

"You have one sentence Jaune and one sentence only...use it wisely" said Yang as she waited for Jaune's next words.

Jaune gulped, he was scared...when he saw Yang he thought he could see the ghost of Taiyang crack his knuckles like Yang was doing right now. Dammit, he only had one sentence to save himself...

"Come on Jaune, just answer honestly...even Ruby is waiting to hear what you are going to say." said Yang as she gestured to Ruby who had started to watch Jaune intently her eyes not leaving his, waiting for his next words.

"I...I..." Everyone waited with bated breath

"I...just said the same thing my Dad said to my Mom..." Jaune said finally.

Now let's go back shall we, everything we've seen and heard of Jaune Arc was that he was a kind person and that he was somewhat dense...that's actually wrong...he was super dense.

At the same time Yang's fist impacted Jaune's head and he again went flying, people were cheering or...cursing Jaune, and Ruby...well Ruby had to reboot her systems as she was not that naive when Jaune went on one knee.

From that day onward, the relationship between Jaune and Ruby went back to the way it was before either of them had lost their family.

* * *

Finally after 3 years since the Evacuation of Vale and the Battle of the Four Kingdoms, in which all our armies were smashed, where all our teachers were lost that we decided that enough was enough.

We had searched throughout the entire four kingdoms and any outlying towns for survivors, sometimes we found some...other times we only found remains, but we couldn't hide anymore. Our numbers although large kept dwindling and our resources were becoming strained, we decided for one last battle with Salem.

So we gathered all our troops, all our allies, Huntsmen, Huntresses, Officers of the Law, Soldiers from every Kingdom, even Ex-White Fang members who had finally realized that it was either us or death.

We all joined together Vale, Atlas, Vacuo and Mistral allegiances didn't matter anymore we were all in this…except for Adam of course and his little posse of extremist faunus…let's just say that Blake and Yang paid him back full time for Yang's lost limb.

Hey the guy deserved it! After everything, he still couldn't let go of his hate for humanity, and even though at the time we needed more allies it was better that he wasn't on our side to betray us …

So…to get back on track we left a few people to defend the civilians and used airships to breach Vale's airspace and then enacted a plan that bordered on suicide. We would ram the airships, our only way to escape if things went wrong, into Grimm Hordes as we made our way to the City...none of us planned to go back...it was all or nothing.

After that one could say the rest was history. We lost everybody, but in the end me and Ruby dealt the last blow against Salem and won. So that's our story…so...

"CAN I PLEASE GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" yelled Jaune Arc to the void, 'Where am I anyway?' he thought to himself, it was just emptiness here, pure emptiness…Wait there was a small light coming from up ahead.

"…I've actually heard the saying that one shouldn't go towards the light so…as Ruby would say…Nooopppee" said Jaune as he turned around and walked the other way…right into a glowing portal of white light.

"Ah Dam-" Jaune's thoughts disappeared as his consciousness faded into black. His thought were empty, until...

"Jaune…hey Jaune wake up"

"Uhh…What?" replied Jaune as he picked his head off the…bed? His eyes blurry as he rubbed them.

"Jaune get up…we are going to be late for classes…are you feeling alright?" said a very familiar female voice.

"Hey, is our fearless leader doing okay, maybe he's sick, yep definitely sick, you know when I'm sick, R-"said a second female voice, seriously these voices sounded awfully familiar.

"No Nora, we are not making pancakes" said a third voice this one male…Wait a minute Nora? Then that means this is Ren right? Then whos…!

Finally Jaune's sight returned to him and he saw a person that was gone for almost three years. Her long red hair tied in a ponytail, her tiara still on her head and her green eyes staring at Jaune's own. Standing there in her Beacon uniform was Pyrrha Nikos.

"Pyrrha…?" Jaune muttered

"Yes Jaune?"

"…Is that really you"

"Umm…why wouldn't it be?" said Pyrrha as she smiled bashfully, her hand going to the back of her head.

"…It's not possible…did I? Travel back." muttered Jaune

"Jaune are you alright…your acting a bit strange, you do know we have classes soon right, so why don't you hurry. It seems you don't have a fever so…" Pyrrha stated as she waited for Jaune's reply.

"…Yeah…yeah a class…that sounds…that sounds…nice" said Jaune his eyes watering slightly, he was back. He was really back at Beacon with his whole team again. They could change it, everything that happened didn't need to happen, not this time…

"Hey Jaune, are you alright you're crying?" said Pyrrha gaining the attention of Ren and Nora who were talking to each other about pancakes…as well as Ren making them.

"No…no…I'm fine just happy…that's all." said Jaune as he wiped his eyes of his growing tears.

"Happy? Why would you be happy about Biology?" said Nora her finger under her chin in a thinking pose.

"Nora, Biology is an important part of the curriculum, it's something that all students should know." Scolded Ren

Pyrrha ignored the two and stared intently at her leader. "Jaune…are you really alright?"

"…"

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked again getting worried at Jaune's silence

"…Nora…what did you say?" Jaune directed a question at Nora

"How Pancakes are delicious?" said Nora

"No, the other thing"

"How Re-"

"No." Jaune interrupted as he rubbed his eyes to get his mind focused. "I mean you saying we have a class on biology?"

"Yeah fearless leader…we've always had a class on biology" said Nora not getting why Jaune was getting so worked up about it.

"On Grimm right?" said Jaune hoping he just forgot that there was a biology class they took on the nature of Grimm. Like…like Port's class…maybe that's just another word for Grimm Stu-

"Grimm? Jaune what are you talking about?" interjected Ren his voice concerned

"…Guys…you know the Grimm…the all destroying monsters in the world intent on wiping out every Hunan and Faunus off the face of Remnant?" said Jaune getting slightly afraid.

"…Jaune I think you do have a slight fever, maybe we should bring you to the nurse" said Pyrrha now very concerned about her leader's condition.

"Grimm Jaune-Jaune, is that another word for sloths Ren?" Nora asked excitedly

"No Nora, it's not" as Ren replied to Nora half of his focus on her and half on his leader 'What's wrong with him today?'

"…" Although Jaune didn't say anything he was panicking, I went back in time right, there's no way it isn't possible that I didn't go back…but then what's going on…No Grimm…Biology classes…I need to…need to find…that's right!.

'I need to find Ruby' thought Jaune resolutely.

Chapter 1-Recollections-End

* * *

" **,,,"**

"…"

"… **Hey Veran I wasn't in it, you said I would be in it, I am not an Arc, so why am I not in it?"**

"…"

" **Wait, what's this" *sounds of notes being shuffled around off-screen**

 **Hello everybody this is a note from Veran Aval, if you are reading this I am either not here right now or knocked out by my OC. First thank you for the reviews and thank you for stating some of the mistakes I did. I rectified the title so I don't appear so idiotic now. Anyway is this a time-travel story? Yes, yes it is, but it's not your average time-travel story. Both Jaune and Ruby are going to have to work for it...for one chapter…**

 **Also I will be working on grammar stuff and making updates on the current 2 chapters to correct them so no worries there. Next chapter maybe next week depending on my workload (hoping to get 10k words out) Also there was one review about Jaune's semblance, well to be perfectly honest when you asked that question I actually forgot about the whole thing, but then I read chapter 1 again and had a brilliant idea. So thank you for that. Review and Criticize-Veran Aval Out**

 **PS. To my OC HAHAHA for reading this out loud.**

 ***Sounds of ripping notes and a crash of chairs, computers, as well as a scream of rage could be heard off camera.**


	3. Chapter 2-A Perfect World

**Uhh…What happened…feels like I got hit by a foot…"**

" **What the hell happened to my office?!" *Tables are flipped, the computer is smashed and papers are everywhere.**

" **I…don't even want to know, all I know is that it's time for the next chapter so…hello everybody Veran Aval here with a new chapter of Beginnings. All rights go to Monty Oum and the show RWBY. I don't own anything except my ideas and OC Re- *Bang Bang**

" **Oh now what?!" *Veran walks off-screen and the sound of a door can be heard being opened then shut quickly. Then a whirring sounds of chains could be heard as if the door is being torn apart by a machine. Finally two minutes later Veran walks back on screen.**

"… **Hey everybody no worries it's just…yeah…my OC will ap-*whirring sounds could be heard off screen "Will definitely appear! Definitely appear this chapter so…forgive me. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 2-The Perfect World

Beacon Academy, a school made to train and bring out the best students in the History of Remnant. Whether it is in athletics, academic studies or even leadership roles, those who go to Beacon Academy will be sent out as the most skilled professionals that Humanity and Faunus can offer. However, that does not mean all will be accepted, we only admit those who have an avera-

Jaune closed the pamphlet that described everything about 'Beacon Academy' and gave a sigh as he walked with the rest of his 'team' to his biology class.

"Jaune are you sure you're alright?" asked Pyrrha her tone worried as her leader seemed slightly…off for some reason.

"I'm alright…Pyrrha" said Jaune as he hesitated a bit in saying Pyrrha's name, if this was even Pyrrha to begin with.

"Are you sure? The infirmary is that way so we can just stop by to see if you have a fever or something." said Pyrrha as she tried again to convince Jaune that going to the nurse wasn't a bad idea since he seemed to be hallucinating about man eating monsters, as well as…

"I'm fine…really, so don't worry about it." Jaune said roughly as he was getting slightly annoyed.

As if sensing his annoyance Pyrrha stopped trying to tell him to go, instead she decided to ask him a question that was bothering her.

"So, why did you knock on that team's door?" said Pyrrha as she gave Jaune a glance

"What?" replied Jaune confused, he didn't knock on any team's door except for…

"You knocked on Team RWBY's door remember?"

"Oh! I just need to discuss things with Ruby that's all" said Jaune as he realized what she was saying, he did knock on RWBY's door after all, but for some reason it seemed they weren't in.

"I see…"

"…Anything wrong Pyrrha?"

"No! Nothing's wrong, don't worry about it." Pyrrha gave him a small smile to reassure him.

"Uh-huh" said Jaune, but he didn't sound convinced something was definitely wrong, but Jaune couldn't think about it now because they had just reached the door where he was 'supposedly' taking biology class with his team.

From what he heard from his 'friends' it was supposed to be different from the Grimm studies he was taught when he was in Beacon Academy. The course seemed to focus on animal life, habitation, plants etc. and even some things that he had not heard of at all. 'Well it should be interesting right?' thought Jaune

Twenty minutes later Jaune wanted to be anywhere else except here. As fate would have it, this biology class was almost the same exact thing that he learned in Grimm Studies… except the Professor, who was Port, was regaling them with tales of his heroic deeds against a bear? What the hell was a bear?! It looked like a small Ursa with brown fur instead of black. However, the bigger question was the location of Team RWBY...were the late?

"…and that my students, is how I took the beast down. Are there any questions?" said Prof. Port his eyes wandering over his class. Half of them already falling asleep listening to his stories, he then spotted Jaune who was subtly looking around for any signs of Team RWBY.

"Mr. Arc since you seem to be awake and alert from what I can tell from your wandering eyes. Can you please tell me the best way to deal with such a creature?" said Port

"Professor that's a lit-"Pyrrha was going to object to Port's question. This clearly had nothing to do with the subject and Jaune didn't kn-

"First you would wait till it stands up, then you'd slice at its legs, therefore making it unbalanced. Wait for it to attack you, and once it does it will be unable to steady itself in time. Therefore, you could either behead it or impale it with your weapon." said Jaune as he coldly stated one of the tactics that would normally take down an Ursa without any hesitation.

At his words, silence greeted him and those who were half asleep looked at Jaune in both shock and horror.

"That…is a very dangerous and gruesome way of taking down a bear Mr. Arc." Port finally stated.

"But it is effective" said Jaune before he closed his mouth and bit his tongue. He said too much and now everyone was looking at him like he was crazy.

"I see…please inform us Mr. Arc, where you learned such a maneuver?" asked Port giving Jaune a hard look that was both filled with curiosity and suspicion.

As Jaune contemplated what he should say next, he was saved by the bell ringing signaling that class was over.

"…Alright class dismissed, please read the chapters that are assigned in your books and make sure you bring in your paper that is due next time." said Port, but his stare never left Jaune's as the words left his mouth.

Even when Jaune gathered his stuff and left with his team, he could still feel the intense gaze from the Professor, as well as the whispering the other students were doing when he turned his back on them.

"Was that actually Arc…"

"I have no idea, but what he said…"

"Yeah…" these were the thoughts of the students who witnessed Jaune's cold answer. They weren't scared, but were wary of him.

This was a school that dealt with academics and athletics. There were absolutely no combat classes except for the specialized courses for those planning to join the police or military.

As he walked with his team to the next class, which was history with Dr. Oobleck, the faces of his teammates were also troubled. They had never seen Jaune say things like that, granted Jaune was incredibly smart and his leadership skills were above most, but what he said back in Port's class wasn't like him at all.

The Jaune Arc they knew was a kind and naive person who had little to no knowledge in combat expertise. What he said in class, it was ruthless, like it came from a battle scarred hardened veteran of war, not a first-year student!

As they tried to make sense of this, Jaune saw their troubled expressions and cursed inwardly. He was a veteran huntsman of a three year war and he made an amateur mistake in answering Port's question. For crying out loud, he could have said he didn't know how to tackle a bear, but no he had to blurt out the common tactics to kill an Ursa, something that was larger than a bear!

This entire situation was making him go insane. There was no Grimm, no Huntsmen/Huntresses and no Combat Schools to fight against the darkness. Instead, what Jaune got was a Beacon Academy that trained the future scholars, athletes, researchers and whatever profession that was out there to be the very best that they could. Why the hell was he here?! Hopefully Ruby came back with him because if she didn't Jaune was going to lose it in this peaceful, but confusing, situation of the world as it was now.

While Jaune was debating with himself, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora were talking about their leader in hushed tones.

"Doesn't Jaune seem…off to you" started Ren as he told the other two.

"Off? Ren I think he's more than off, don't you think." replied Pyrrha as she tried to figure out Jaune's current demeanor. Jaune seemed more competent? No that isn't the right word, was it more mature?

"While I do agree his answer to Professor Port's question seemed…unlike him, we can't say that he doesn't have any experience with it. Maybe he went hunting with his father once and saw him fight a bear before?" suggested Ren as he tried to be logical about the whole thing.

"That wouldn't make any sense though, it…it doesn't really match him."

"Is that your observation or your personal opinion?" said Ren as he raised an eyebrow. Of course he knew that Pyrrha harbored a slight crush on their leader it was obvious from the moment the two met each other.

"It's…" Pyrrha tried to answer back, but her face was slightly flushed from Ren's question.

"Oh! Oh! I know, I know." Nora suddenly interjected, "Maybe Jaune is not actually Jaune, and that he is some kind of hunter that kills those Grimm he talked about before. Then the things he said in Port's class was a technique to kill the things he fought?! That has to be it right! Right! Ren, Pyrrha!"

As Nora yelled that last part out, both Ren and Pyrrha looked at Jaune who wasn't even paying attention to them, still cursing his own stupidity. They then turned to Nora and looked at each other, then to Nora again. Pyrrha finally looked at Ren. "Have you been feeding Nora candy again Ren?" she asked

"…Unfortunately yes, she bargained for it, it was either that or make her pancakes. I chose the lesser of two evils." said Ren as he used his hand to face palm himself.

"But…But…how hard is it to believe that Jaune is actually not our leader. Maybe he's the opposite and is actually a darker version of him, or maybe some kind of dimensional traveler from another universe or maybe…maybe an alien?!" said Nora as she tried to convince the two in front of her.

Unfortunately for her, both Pyrrha and Ren had already dismissed her words as the ideas of a hyper-active kid on candy.

So as Team JNPR walked to their next class, one can see its leader Jaune Arc oblivious to everything around him, as he was in deep thought. Pyrrha and Ren were still debating over Jaune's sudden attitude change in hushed tones and Nora…Nora was spouting off ideas that were so close to the truth, but so outlandish that it was dismissed as fantasy. All in all, it was a rather strange day for the team as they arrived at History Class.

After History class, JNPR was currently heading to the cafeteria to get some lunch and were making a little small talk.

Professor Oobleck was the same as usual. His words seemed to fire rapidly out of his mouth and his enthusiasm was boundless. However, instead of talking about the formation of the Kingdoms and the Grimm, he talked of how the people had spread over the entire world.

It seemed that without Grimm to impede them, the population on Remnant had exploded and new technology was being discovered every day. Even Jaune learned some things, like alternative energy sources that didn't run on dust, something called solar energy, a relatively new, but untested method.

Still, the lesson wasn't all about peace and its positives, Oobleck talked of the wars as well, one of them being the Faunus Revolution/War that guaranteed Faunus rights. It seemed those events were the same as Jaune remembered them, just with some slight differences. Furthermore, it also seemed that there was still some discrimination between the humans and faunus, but it wasn't as prevalent.

However, one of the most interesting things Jaune learned was not the history of Remnant, but that no one had any aura or semblances. That's right, there was nothing in the books that described it and even asking Oobleack the question earned him weird glances from his classmates so he dropped the issue altogether. Still Jaune couldn't dwell on that particular problem because he was worried.

That worry stemmed from the fact that he wasn't able to see Team RWBY anywhere. They weren't in his biology class, nor were they in history. So where were they?

His worries were unfounded though because when he entered into the cafeteria and saw Team RWBY sitting at a table eating their lunch. They were all there, alive and well. Weiss was sitting next to Ruby reprimanding her for some mistake she did and Yang was busy talking to Blake who had her book out.

'Thank Monty' thought Jaune as he saw their familiar faces whole and alive just like his team. It didn't matter if this was all a trick. It was relieving to see them acting without a care in the world. With a smile he signaled to the rest of his group to get food and afterwards moved towards RWBY's table. Unknown to Jaune though, his team were making some strange faces as they followed him.

As Jaune reached their table, he sat down without any hesitation right next to Yang and across from Ruby. As he opened his mouth to greet them Weiss interrupted his words.

"Excuse me, but isn't it rude to sit down without even introducing yourself first?" said Weiss as she appeared annoyed…more annoyed than usual. Her eyes narrowed at Jaune as he sat himself down so casually at their table.

"Yeah, it's not like we mind, but it seems a tad impolite on your part" Yang followed up as she looked at Jaune critically. "Hey…wait a minute…aren't you that leader of the team that lives across from us? John right?" she questioned.

"…" Jaune didn't even bother correcting her, he was frozen.

"Hey? You listening?" repeated Yang as she stared at him, even Blake had peered over the book she was reading to see what was going on. His teammates were also behind him having faces that were confused at his action with sitting at Team RWBY's table.

They usually sat by themselves or other teams, not with Team RWBY who was rumored to be the strongest team in Beacon. To explain that title each member of Team RWBY were exceptional individuals.

Ruby Rose incredibly talented in athletics, her running speed was said to be the best of the best. Her engineering skill were also said to be top notch due to her inventive and creative mind. However, her age was fifteen and her academic skills, while not lacking, was average by Beacon standards. Regardless, she was the leader of Team RWBY, so her leadership skills must be very high for her to be qualified for the position.

Weiss Schnee, a prodigy in both athletics and studies. She is also rich and famous since her family was a supplier of Dust, even if they were rumors that they ran shady business deals. Many expected her to be the leader, but for some reason Ruby had filled that role and while she objected at first, she appeared to have adapted to it.

Blake Belladona, not a lot is known about her, but she was good in sports and had an excellent academic record. Her fame spread as the girl who ignored everyone and read books to her heart's content. Some of the more malicious people would say she was a nerd, but if she heard you say that well...she would refer you to her friend.

Yang Xiao Long, half sister to Ruby Rose and was excellent at athletics, especially in competitive sports that included boxing, karate, tae-kwon do. Basically take all the martial arts you knew and she would be in the top tier in a few months that was how high her aptitude was in fighting. Furthermore, while she didn't look it, she was also smart in her academic studies, but while she was quite a beautiful young lady there was two significant problems. She was fiercely protective of her little sister, as well as close friends and her humor was so bad that it was almost toxic.

They were the best team Beacon had to offer, but because they were in different classes JNPR rarely had any interaction with them. Even though they did live right across from them it didn't mean anything if no social talks took place. It was also the same vice-versa and soon enough it became the status quo for both teams to ignore each other…that was until Jaune had sat down at their table.

"Hey…you alive in there?" said Yang as she was getting frustrated at Jaune's lack of reply. However, Jaune wasn't paying attention to that, no he finally cracked inside.

'WHAT THE HELL is going on here!' thought Jaune as he started to lose his mind.

First people that were dead are now alive again, which was fantastic, except the fact that Beacon Academy had turned into a school that taught people various subjects that had nothing to do with fighting Grimm!

Second there was no GRIMM! No Aura, no Semblances, everyone was normal and apparently the world was entering a state of prosperity.

Finally last, but not least, his team and RWBY had no idea who each other were. For Jaune who had fought side by side with Team RWBY every step of the way for the last three years until the last battle with Salem, this was both an emotional and mental blow to him.

'Was everything they did, everything they sacrificed worth nothing? This…this was just wrong to him…Wait…Wait! Maybe Ruby came back with me! Maybe we can figure everything out together!' thought Jaune as he looked at Ruby who was staring at him across the table.

Desperately trying to convince himself he signaled to Ruby with a method that they developed as partners and leaders. It was a simple cough here, as well as a slight movement there and that was that.

Now he waited as he watched for Ruby's reply, if she came back with him, she should simply nod or have a slight smile to acknowledge his signals. However, Jaune forgot he wasn't alone and soon enough Yang had enough as she gripped Jaune's arm in a firm manner.

"Hey…I don't know what your reason for being here is, but if it's to stare at my baby sister then I suggest you walk away right now." She growled out.

She was enjoying a nice talk with Blake…even if Blake appeared to be reading her book and then this guy who lived across from their room came over to their table, said nothing to their questions and made eyes at her sister! No way was she going to let this go, but even with her threat he didn't make a move to stand up or move and this only served to tick her off more. If he won't move she was going to force him to move!

So Yang attempted to force Jaune to stand up, putting even greater force onto Jaune's arm, but Jaune wasn't a veteran huntsman for nothing. Even if his body was somewhat underwhelming at the current moment, he felt almost nothing from Yang's attempt to force him away, that was how high his pain tolerance was.

In fact, this Yang was even weaker then the Yang he knew when they were still students at Beacon before its Fall. It appears that living in a world without Grimm had severely diminished the physical abilities of everyone...not strange if you were living in peace without the threat of extinction. So ignoring Yang's increasing pressure on his arm he continued to stare at Ruby.

'Come on Ruby signal back…what is taking you so long' thought Jaune as Ruby still didn't do anything to show him she was back like he was. Unaware to Jaune though, Yang's anger was reaching the boiling point, before long she gave up on putting pressure on his arm and instead tried to shove him away…it was a bad idea

At that, Jaune's instincts kicked in automatically and he dodged Yang's shove, unfortunately it made her tumble to the floor as she didn't anticipate his sudden movement. With the cafeteria being so nosy not many people saw what had occurred, their attention on their meals and conversations, but those nearby were wide-eyed at the scene. Yang herself felt a mixture of anger, and embarrassment, Jaune was also feeling conflicted. He didn't mean to do that and now Yang looked like she was going to murder him.

However, when it appeared that Yang was going to beat him to death in public, Ruby finally spoke up. "Yang I think that's enough, Jaune may not seem like it right now, but he really is a good person"

"You know him Ruby?" asked Blake as she put down her book when Yang had fallen down.

"Of course I do." replied Ruby as she gave Jaune a slight smile. That was the sign! However, Jaune still had a little doubt what if…what if it was a coincidence?

So Jaune signaled again, this time he asked Ruby a more complicated signal 'What was the last thing we did before we died?' Jaune was of course thinking about their victory over Salem, but for Ruby...

"So where do you know him?" said Yang as she got off the floor her anger abating, but still slightly mad at Jaune.

"I know him from…uh…um…" Ruby attempted to say something, but mid-sentence she got Jaune's message and her entire face lit up red and she couldn't concentrate on a good excuse. 'What was Jaune asking her?!'

"Ruby…" Yang asked slowly as she saw her little sister's expression. "How do you know him…"

"I…uhhh…kno…know…" Ruby again attempted to answer, but her mind was a little pre-occupied at the moment, as she replayed the last moments both her and Jaune had on the tower. Her face was really on fire now.

As everyone saw Ruby's blushing face they all had varying reactions. Pyrrha was denying what she was seeing and thought that Jaune wouldn't do anything like that. Ren and Weiss both had a thinking face on as they observed Ruby's reaction, maybe it was the heat? Their minds just couldn't comprehend that both their leaders would do such a thing. Nora was excitedly chatting to Ren about pancakes… and Blake was nursing a slight nosebleed as she imagined her more…adult reading material.

The last one Yang was…well she was…not angry, but her impassive face appeared scarier than her mad one. There were only two times she had that face on, when she was extremely sad and tried to cover it up or…so angry that her mind had become super focused on killing the thing that had infuriated her in the first place.

Jaune on the other hand, unaware of everyone's reactions was puzzled, why was Ruby turning red? It was a simple question to answer right? As the situation was devolving, it was as if the God Monty was watching them all and the bell rung marking the end of lunch time. However, as the tension decreased Yang wasn't going to let it end there.

"…Ruby…I think it's time to talk to your big sister." Yang said as she grabbed Ruby's cape and proceeded to drag her out of the cafeteria. People who saw this quickly looked away and got out as fast as they could. They really didn't want to get in the way of Yang at the moment.

"Wait…Yang! Don't we have classes?!" said Ruby as she struggled in Yang's grip.

"Oh don't worry we have free period right now so let's talk" Yang gave a smile that scared Ruby more then it relieved her and she started to struggle even more.

"Jaune! Help me!" yelled Ruby as she felt immense danger if she went with her sister now, but as Jaune moved to help he saw the stare Yang was giving him.

Now Jaune was not a coward, he faced hundreds of Grimm and came out unscathed. The largest Grimm Dragons and Goliaths did not even scare him anymore. Furthermore, he had faced the ultimate monster Salem and came out victorious with Ruby's help. However, at this moment when facing Yang's stare Jaune felt that taking another step would mean definite death.

Even if this Yang was not as physically strong as the Yang he knew, and that she had no aura or semblance to call upon. Her stare was the same Yang gave him when he was talking to Ruby a little too much…but that was impossible…right?

As Yang continued to stare at him, Jaune made an apology to Ruby in his heart and stopped dead in his tracks.

Satisfied in seeing that Jaune wasn't going to help, Yang continued to drag Ruby out of the cafeteria and Ruby seeing Jaune's idleness started to panic.

"Jaune! Help me! What are you doing! Help me!" cried Ruby as her struggles became even more frantic, however Jaune was apathetic.

'I'm sorry Ruby, but you'll survive' thought Jaune as he gave a salute in his mind…that was until he heard Ruby's next words.

"Jaune! Was everything we did together meaningless? Are you really going to abandon me!" yelled Ruby as she gave her best puppy dog look, but it looked like she was crying instead.

At that it was total silence from everyone in the vicinity. Jaune knew Ruby was talking about their experiences together for three years in battle and as partners, but for anyone else listening…

Jaune ran like there was no tomorrow and jumped out of the window, breaking the glass in the process. Since the window wasn't that high from the ground he landed safely and soon enough his figure began to become a distant outline.

For a few moments after Jaune's escape there was little to no reaction, but finally Yang ran right after him. Some could swear they saw Yang's eyes turn a shade of red, but what they were most scared about was the smile. On Yang's face was a very crooked looking smile that promised both pain and torture.

"Wait Yang! It's not what you think!" Ruby yelled as she too jumped out the window and chased after Yang. Realizing that what she said could be misinterpreted in strange ways.

As the two sisters disappeared, the remaining members of both RWBY and JNPR were still processing what just happened. Pyrrha was frozen for an instant and then jumped out the window joining the chase for Jaune. "Jaune Arc you will tell me what is going on right now!"

As Pyrrha left, Weiss and Blake both looked at each other. With a nod, they also jumped out the window joining in the hunt for Arc. He had some things he needed to answer for. While Weiss didn't show it she cared for their leader and anything that was done to her would be repaid in full. For Blake it was a similar feeling.

That left the remaining two of JNPR and Nora was not going to miss the action.

"Come on Ren lets join the fun!" said Nora before she too jumped out.

Ren who was the only one left just gave a sigh, was he the only sane one here, as he walked not towards the broken window that everyone had jumped out of, but towards the door that was right next to it.

* * *

Jaune ran as fast as he could, his body moving at an exceptional speed despite his smaller stamina that he currently had and after a few minutes Jaune chanced a look behind him. What he saw made him move even faster.

It was like an execution team was moving right behind him with Yang Xiao Long right in front. Her face told him she was either going to beat him up, cripple him for life or castrate him…probably all three if she got her hands on him.

'Why is it always me, what have I done to deserve this!' Jaune thought as he ran into the courtyard, Beacon students turned to look at him run and then turned right away after seeing what he was chased by. As he passed under a statue he saw two people that he was glad to see. It was Headmaster Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. They could help him!

"Headmaster?!" yelled Jaune as he ran behind Ozpin, not having any qualms at using him as a shield between him and the mob.

Seeing Ozpin and Glynda, Yang, as well as the rest of team JNPR and RWBY stopped short.

"Well…Mr. Arc can you please explain to me what is going on?" said Ozpin as he sipped his coffee observing each person. 'What a peculiar sight, seeing Team RWBY and JNPR together was odd considering that they didn't interact often.'

"Headmaster I can't explain right now, but you have to stop them!" said Jaune as he saw Yang ready to jump him even though Ozpin and Glynda were still there.

"…And why would I do that Mr. Arc I see no problems." replied Ozpin as he again took another sip of his coffee. Oh he was definitely enjoying this.

With that Yang prepared to chase him again, along with all the others who followed her, but Jaune had one last card to play.

"Ozpin…" said Jaune slowly using his name instead of the title

"Yes Mr. Arc?" Ozpin was curious at what this you-

"I know what is under the tower…"

Ozpin froze at this. 'How? How could Arc know what was under the tower, it was a secret only a select few knew'

"Ho-"

"Are you going to help me?" said Jaune as he gave Ozpin a grin. Now Ozpin had no choice, but to help, they would take him in and ask him questions about the Vault, but at least he would be safe.

Ozpin contemplated, should he actually help him…was it worth it to trade a secret for his entertainment. However, this entertainment seemed like it would go on for a while…

With a sigh Ozpin inwardly said 'Good Bye to his underground secret coffee stash that was gathered around the world under the school'

"…I have no idea what you are talking about young man" said Ozpin, as he savored the last of his delicious coffee…in time his collection will be back.

"What?! Ozpin you as-"Jaune was about to say something, but had to dodge Yang's hand as she tried to grab him.

"Prof. Good-" Jaune was about to ask Glynda for help, but she wasn't paying attention to him anymore, no she was staring at Ozpin.

"Headmaster…" she grounded out "What did Mr. Arc mean that he knew what was under the tower?"

Ozpin looked at Glynda, looked down at his coffee took one last long sip…and ran with Glynda right behind him.

"I knew our school budget was decreased! You used it for you damn coffee addiction didn't you Ozpin…didn't you!" Glynda yelled furiously, as she chased her stupid coffee obsessed boss around Beacon Academy.

At this, Jaune slowly turned to everyone and they in turn stared at him. "…Would it be too late to say sorry?" said Jaune as he nervously laughed. That only seemed to make it worse as Yang, Weiss, Blake, and even Pyrrha were looking pretty mad at his statement.

"…Sorry…you're sorry…" muttered Yang as her fists seemed to clench up.

"…Yea-" Jaune wasn't able to finish as he had to dodge a punch to his face.

"…"

"…This is the time that I run isn't it?" asked Jaune as sweat started to build up on his forehead. However, no one answered him, except for Ren who was nodding his head. Thus, the chase of Jaune Arc began once more as he ran for his life.

A few hours later Jaune collapsed onto a bench that was overlooking Vale from Beacon's small balcony that showed a good view of the entire city.

"Hahhhh…hahhhh…I think…I lost them." said Jaune as his breath came in short gasps of air. They had chased him for hours, missing all their classes in the process so that they could hurt him down. Now classes were over and it was late afternoon with the Sun setting from where he sat.

However, Jaune didn't mind and as he sat there resting, Jaune's face had a small smile. Sure they were chasing him the entire time, but he had enjoyed it…it was a long time since they all had fun like that…

As soon as that thought crossed his mind Jaune's smile slipped away as he realized the cold hard truth. These people, Team RWBY and JNPR, the Professors and probably his family too…they…weren't the people that he knew…

Jaune put a hand on his hair and had a depreciating look on his face. 'What was he doing here? What was he and Ruby doing here in this place…?' Jaune was so troubled by that fact that he didn't notice the footsteps behind him until it was a few feet away. With a quick look Jaune saw…

"…Hey" said Ruby as she looked at him with a small smile on her face.

"…Hey Ruby…" replied Jaune as he returned that smile, his thoughts moving away from his inner conflict.

"Soooo…Yang is still looking for you" said Ruby

"She is?"

"Yep…"

"…I see…" Jaune made a sigh at that

"So Jaune, what are you doing here anyway?" questioned Ruby

"Oh…you know…just resting after your sister tried to murder me. Care to join me?" replied Jaune as he gestured to the seat next to him.

"Sure" Ruby gave a shrug and sat down next to Jaune, her legs swinging gently under her.

They were both looking at the setting sun, enjoying its ebbing lights together until Ruby spoke up again.

"Jaune I am so sorry about before, Yang misunde-"Ruby tried to apologize for her sister, but stopped as Jaune interrupted her.

"Ruby…you know that she isn't your sister." Jaune's words were blunt and to the point, these people…weren't real…they were strangers.

At this, Ruby shut her mouth and remained silent. For a few minutes after neither one spoke to each other until Jaune opened his mouth to say sorry, he was too direct with what he said.

"Rub-"

"I know…"said Ruby as she stared at her hands as they opened and closed.

"You know? Then why…?" Jaune was about to ask why she acted like she knew them, why she had fun with them, but he couldn't. It was because he faced the same problem she did.

'…You're probably having the same problems I am, aren't you Jaune" said Ruby as she continued to stare at the setting sun.

"…" Jaune didn't refute her because it was true.

"…You know when I woke up, I was so happy to see everyone's faces again. After what Salem said, I thought they were all dead, in fact I thought we had all met again after we had died…" continued Ruby as she recounted her time here.

"It was…surprising to me that we were all in fact alive, and that we were students again. Attending classes at Beacon Academy…the Academy that would 'Send out the best professional workers that Humanity and Faunus could offer' said Ruby as she had a fake announcer voice for saying Beacon's role.

Jaune had to lightly laugh at that, Ruby did do a good narration voice…but that still didn't answer the question.

"Ruby… that stil-

"I wanted everything back together!" Ruby stated as tears began to fall out of her eyes.

"Ruby…"

"Was it wrong Jaune…to go back to our school days where everything was so much simpler?" cried Ruby. "Is it wrong to spend time here…even if this is fake or a trick…is it wrong to enjoy every last minute with the people you lost!"

"Ruby it's not wrong…but…" Jaune tried to interject, but Ruby beat him too it.

"I know…I know that these aren't the people that we knew Jaune...those people are gone and will never come back" said Ruby quietly as she wiped her eyes.

At that the silence returned, Ruby had said the very thing that had been gnawing at Jaune since he got here. These people weren't his team 'JNPR', just like Ruby's team wasn't team 'RWBY', but why did it feel wrong to call these people strangers. Why did Ruby's answer seem right, but also wrong at the same time?

That was when it him, Jaune finally understood what was wrong. Ruby was right, their friends and family wouldn't come back, but she was also wrong in assuming that they were replacing them with the people they saw here. Suddenly, he held Ruby's hand, startling her.

"Jaune wha-"

"Ruby…you're right, the people we know are gone…but they aren't gone forever you know…

"What do you mean?"

"They live in here Ruby…and in here" explained Jaune as he pointed to his head and heart. "They are in our memories and souls. Nothing can change that fact."

"…"

"Hey Ruby…if this isn't a dream or a trick and is actually reality don't you want to stay here with everyone…"

"They ar-"

"Yes…yes I know they aren't the people that we know, I had trouble with it too…enjoying my time with my team even though they are not my 'team'…but I think I figured it out" said Jaune his mind finally clear.

"Figured it out?" asked Ruby as she was confused at what Jaune was trying to say.

"The people we know…our team and yours…nothing can replace our time with them…but that doesn't mean we can't make new memories with this Team JNPR and RWBY right?"

When he said this, Ruby understood what Jaune was talking about, they weren't replacing Team RWBY and JNPR or everyone else with the images of the past. They were instead making new memories of the present.

It was like…

"Strangers…are just friends you haven't met yet…right?" said Ruby as she smiled at him.

At the current moment RWBY, JNPR and everyone around them were strangers…but in time they would be their friends and family. If they never forgot those previously then they weren't replacing them, but just making new links and connections.

"Yeah…that's right…one to two" said Jaune simply as he smiled back.

"One to two?" asked Ruby confused at what Jaune was trying to say now

"Hey did you forget? I'm already here Ruby, so that means you already have your first friend. Now you just need to get a second one…then a third and fourth. Soon you'll have dozens of them." replied Jaune as he smiled at Ruby. However, for some reason that just made Ruby depressed instead of happy.

"Friend…huh…" muttered Ruby dejectedly

"Uhh…" Jaune tried to think of something to say when he saw Ruby look sad, was it something he said? It looks like he'd have to improve the mood.

"Uhh…one to two also means you owe me"

"…What do you mean Jaune?"

"Hey…you helped me out once when Salem tried to make me give up, and I helped you now and in the beginning of our first school year remember? So I count that as one to two, score to me of course."

"…Are you seriously counting the times that we've helped each other Jaune." said Ruby her smile slightly forced as she looked at Jaune with a twitching face. Hey at least she wasn't depressed anymore, but for some reason Jaune felt that saying the wrong answer here would be bad.

"…Never mind."

"Thought so…besides…you didn't count the times that I stopped Yang from trying to kill you…" said Ruby as she pouted cutely, her bad mood completely gone now.

"Wait…? When did Yang try to kill me?! And more importantly Why?!"

"…Dense idiot" Ruby mumbled

"What was that?"

"Oh…nothing Jaune" said Ruby as she looked at the setting sun that was finally down making a shining horizon of light to signify the moon's rise. The depressing atmosphere and self-doubt was finally gone, with this they would be able to move forward. However, the day wasn't done yet as Ruby realized that Jaune was still holding her hand.

With her face turning a slight red, she was inwardly panicking inside…but…wasn't this an opportunity? So with her face full of embarrassment she asked Jaune a question.

"Hey…Jaune…"

"Hmmm?" replied Jaune affirmatively as he took his eyes off the beautiful sun down.

"Can I…put my head on your shoulder for a bit?" Ruby asked as her face was full on blushing at this point.

"Ohhh…umm…sure." replied Jaune as he too began to turn a little red, as he offered his shoulder for Ruby to lie on.

"Thanks…Jaune." said Ruby as he laid her head on his offered shoulder.

"No problem Ruby…"

If anyone were to see this picture, it would be of a girl and a boy with interlocked hands sitting together with the remaining sunset dying down around them. The girl's head on the boy's shoulder either asleep or awake one could not tell. However, anyone could feel it, that these two people shared a bond that was closer than most, something not easily achieved between two people in this world and that…that was something too special to witness.

With the setting sun outlining them both Jaune thought it a little ironic that they died with a dawn, but were alive again with a sunset.

As Jaune turned to Ruby to tell her that, Ruby's own face was turned to him as well. It looked like both leaders had the same thought, but since they turned to each other to speak. Their faces had become quite close to one another.

Then as if by some mysterious force, both Jaune and Ruby leaned closer. Both their eyes closed as their faces came closer and closer. With only a few inches their li-

"EHUMM…I hope I am not interrupting anything, but I need to say some things to the both of you" said a female voice.

Upon hearing that voice, both Jaune and Ruby jumped out of their seats in embarrassment. After a few moments of spluttered denials, they realized that the woman in front of them was just looking at them with amusement and an awkward silence followed.

"We're sorry…did you need something?" said Jaune as he tried to get rid of the awkward silence observing the lady in front of him.

She was quite beautiful and looked to be in her mid-twenties, her eyes were the color of red and while her hair was black, it had red highlights on it as well. Similar to Ruby's hairstyle, but this woman's highlights were darker and sparser.

"Yes there is something I need Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose, but before I ask, I must first congratulate you both." said the woman as she smiled lightly at the two.

"Congratulate us? On what" asked Ruby her eyes narrowing suspiciously at the woman. Ruby had entered into her veteran huntsman persona.

"On passing my test of course!" announced the woman.

"Test…that would mean…" Jaune trailed off in his thoughts, his veteran huntsman persona, much like Ruby, had taken over.

"That is correct…all of this is just illusions…or something along those lines."

"Something along those lines? What do you me-"

"I am sorry Jaune Arc, but I cannot explain anymore details, but know this…I gave both of you a test and you both passed." Interrupted the woman

"Passed?! Is this some sort of game to you…are you like that woman Salem who treats people like there are nothing!" said Ruby angrily, Jaune was feeling quite angry himself. This world was, in the end, all a trick!

"…I ask you not to compare me to Salem. What I did was to make sure you were worthy of going back." said the woman slowly.

"Worthy…of going back?" questioned Jaune as he tried to control his anger.

"…Yes…contrary to what many believe going back in time is not a simple manner…it is also choosing the ones who are qualified to even make the journey."

"Going back in time? Do you me-"

"Yes…you can go back and change everything..." stated the woman simply "I am sorry that I did not send you back immediately and had to resort to this trickery, but I needed to confirm some things."

"…You keep saying I, but who are you?" asked Ruby as her anger also came down.

"…I…am Remnant."

"Remnant? The planet?" echoed both Jaune and Ruby

"Yes…I am the planet's will, the planet itself"

"The…planet's will?" questioned Ruby, her mind racing at that thought.

"Yes…you Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc have passed my test and are now granted with a choice" said Remnant as her eyes glowed an eerily gold. "The first choice is this world, as I said before, this world is an illusion, but you can remain in this illusion and live the rest of your lives in peace"

"The second choice is to take a chance in saving everyone that you know. You will be pushed into the past to right the future. However know this, everything you do will have a consequence, the choices you make and the future you create will be on your shoulders…this is a heavy burden to bear."

"…" At Remnant's words both Ruby and Jaune had remained silent, but Jaune had a question that wouldn't leave him.

"Why?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why help now after all this time…and why us? Where were you when Humanity and Faunus were on the brink of extinction? You offer us this deal, but how can we trust you?!" yelled Jaune uncaring that he was talking to a supernatural and possibly godlike being.

"…I…was unable to do so." Remnant said sadly

"Unable to do so?"

"What you must understand is that there are laws in place to prevent anyone from interfering too heavily into the state of affairs. Even now I am threading a dangerous line in interfering with the timeline, but the situation right now is too bleak. Humanity and Faunus only number in the single digits…"

"Single digits…wait what about those that we saved?" Jaune was of course talking about the ones that they had left with some protection before the final battle had begun.

"…Unfortunately, they have been found by Salem's Grimm when you left…all had been butchered to the last man, woman and child."

"No…" said Jaune as he felt a dark feeling clench his heart Ruby tried to comfort him, but he couldn't handle it…all those precautions to protect those people…were all for nothing.

"Now do you understand why I must take action…"

"…"

"I will you give you a few minutes to decide, but know this any choice you choose now is permanent, there is no second chance." Said Remnant as she walked away from the duo.

"Jaune…" said Ruby as she tried to get to Jaune as he was wracked with immense guilt."It's not your fault."

"But it is Ruby, if we hadn't gone, if we hadn't attacked then those people might have still been alive." said Jaune as his eyes began to feel wet.

"Jaune…we did what we had to do…even if we were there how many would have survived? How many would we bury until Salem was stopped." stated Ruby

"…"

"I bear that burden too Jaune, I was the one who agreed that Salem's rampage had to end. However what's done is done, what we need to do now is move forward."

"Ruby…thank you." said Jaune as he was glad Ruby was there for him.

"No problem" said Ruby as she gave Jaune a smile. "Now I think it's time we give Remnant our answer …and it's a pretty simple choice for us isn't it?"

"Yeah…it certainly is."

"…So have you decided" said Remnant as she saw both Jaune and Ruby approaching her with a purpose.

"Yes…" said Ruby as she answered for both her and Jaune, right now Jaune needed to recover a little.

"So what will it be…"

"…I think you already know the answer."

"Humph…so I do" said Remnant as she waved a hand and a medium shaped portal appeared.

"Go through this portal and you shall travel back"

"It's that simple" asked Ruby

'That simple" Remnant replied

With that Ruby and Jaune looked around once more, at Beacon Academy, at Vale, at the peaceful world they were leaving. It was a perfect world they could live in...but it was ultimately not theirs and they had a mission to complete. With a look at each other, they both held hands feeling security and safety with one another.

"Ready" asked Jaune

"Ready" replied Ruby and with that both Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc entered the time portal going to who knows where and after they were through the portal disappeared.

* * *

For a few moments Remnant looked at the spot where the portal had been before and gave a sigh.

"Are you regretting" said a voice in the shadows

"…Aqua so nice to see you" said Remnant and she turned to where the voice originated from and out of the shadows came…another Remnant. This one similar to Remnant in all ways except her highlights was a bluish color.

"I would say the same, but then I would be lying…like you just did." said Aqua as she moved slowly towards the bench that Jaune and Ruby had vacated.

'Lying…what do you mean?"

"You can't hide it from me…you lied to those children about the humans and faunus they were previously protecting being slaughtered by that woman's…Grimm was it?"

"…I have no idea what you are talking about." said Remnant as her face was perfectly impassive

"I have known you for a long time and I know how you act, how you lie, just as you know me so cut the act will you." said Aqua coldly stopping right in front of the bench.

"…It was necessarily." Remnant finally admitted her face full of some guilt

"Necessarily…you guilt tripped them into a choice, a choice that they might not survive from!"

"They will survive!"

"Really? Then tell me, that portal you made it seemed awfully weak didn't it?" said Aqua as she had observed from the sidelines when Remnant had opened the portal for both Jaune and Ruby to pass through.

"…" Remnant didn't say anything, but her silence was confirmation enough.

"I knew it…that portal was unstable wasn't it?" questioned Aqua

"I had no choice…my power was already weak and that was the best I could do…"

"Are you an idiot?! That portal could lead anywhere in the timeline, whether it is one-hundred years into the past or a thousand years into the future, anything is possible!"

"…It was necessarily" repeated Remnant

"It was necessarily? Is that all you can say?"mocked Aqua

"Then what do you want me to say!" yelled Remnant "That they were my best choices, that they were the only hope I had because that's what they were, my hope that a better future could be made!"

"They are children!"

"They are a huntsman and huntress! Unlike your 'children' they have fought, bled, saw their comrades fall around them and experienced death once!"

"That doesn't make it right!"

"What's not right is for my 'children' to suffer in fear of extinction. That every waking moment could mean death! Have yours felt that way Aqua, have they!"

At that both woman remained silent until Aqua opened her mouth again.

"It looks like we will always disagree."

"…Yes it does." said Remnant her voice lower than before.

"…They could have stayed here you know…their souls are similar to the ones here that in a few days they would have synched together." said Aqua as she waved her hand at the bench in front of her. At that movement, the bodies of Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc appeared, with Ruby leaning on Jaune's shoulder apparently asleep.

"…I must…thank you for that…" Remnant said hesitatingly

"Hmmm?"

"…For letting the souls of my Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose inhabit their bodies for a day."

"…It is no problem" said Aqua dismissively "It was a simple affair really, taking their souls out and cloaking my own 'children' is easy for me."

"But still…"

"I said it's not a problem...however I am curious…what were you doing this entire time?"

"…I was making Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose new bodies."

"Bodies" questioned Aqua

"Yes…bodies." Affirmed Remnant

"Why would you do that?... Remnant…you didn't give them anything extra did you…" said Aqua darkly

"What? NO! Their bodies are the same as when they died, the reason I needed to make them new bodies is so they don't get erased by the time paradox."

"Ahhh…" said Aqua as she understood what Remnant was getting at, if Jaune and Ruby came back they wouldn't create a paradox because in technicality they were already separate entities.

"You get it now? Besides I am already threading a dangerous line no need to give them supernatural strength or anything." said Remnant "Still, were they did you put the souls of your Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose?"

"I just made the original souls sleep for the time your children took over. There were still in there, but just resting, something that they both needed as they work too hard sometimes." Aqua said the last part worryingly

"Hehh…your world is really peaceful isn't it?"

"…"

"Well…I think it's time that I get back to my world"

"Remnant wait" said Aqua

"What is it?" replied Remnant as she moved her hand and a portal appeared to take her back.

"Can you…tell me the real reason that you sent them back?"

"Heh…figured it out that it wasn't just for a better future did you."

"…"

"You might not understand, but…It was to make amends…and give them a chance." With that Remnant entered the portal and everything was silent.

"…You're right…I don't understand…" said Aqua

After a few moments of looking at the spot where Remnant had disappeared, Aqua began undoing the barriers she had put up to prevent anyone from entering, as well as hearing anything that was said. She also undid the binding that was keeping Ruby's and Jaune's soul from awakening.

In time both of them were beginning to stir so Aqua used her powers to make her both invisible and intangible.

However, just as she finished using her powers she was treated to quite an interesting sight. Ruby Rose, her version, who was still half asleep, had snuggled even further into Jaune's shoulder. Her arms now encircled his right with their hands still entangled together. The vice-versa was also happening as Jaune moved his head closer to Ruby's own.

However, both their naps weren't going to last and Aqua noticed that it was Ruby who had woken up first. Her face had taken a red hue as she saw herself in an awkward position with a boy she didn't know.

Aqua expected her to push him away immediately, but for some reason Ruby…didn't? Instead, she carefully extracted herself from Jaune's embrace, but not carefully enough as Jaune also woke up.

As the two stared awkwardly at each other, both suddenly said the same thing

"I am so sorry" at that both Ruby and Jaune tried to apologize to each other again and again, but every time their apologies matched one another pace by pace, until finally both had laughed at their mistakes.

'Oh dear…this wasn't supposed to happen' thought Aqua

It looked like Remnant's Jaune and Ruby had somehow left a kind of…familiarity behind when they left and because of that Aqua's Jaune and Ruby were hitting it off like they were old friends…which was true in a way.

"This really wasn't supposed to happen…"muttered Aqua as she observed Ruby's and Jaune's interactions. Jaune wasn't supposed to meet her until the third year of Beacon Academy, even then only as acquaintances. Furthermore, he was supposed to be dating his partner Pyrrha Nikos, now though the future seemed so confusing that she couldn't tell where it was going.

Aqua debated using her powers to change fate just slightly so things could get back on track, but she shook her head lightly, she wasn't Remnant.

However, Aqua knew one thing and among the laughter of Ruby and Jaune, Aqua swore vengeance upon Remnant. For Remnant had un-knowingly destabilized the Arkos ship.

Chapter 2-The Perfect World End

" **There, we are done…Are you happy now Remnant you're finally in so put that away will you."**

"… **Which am I" asked the now revealed Remnant**

"… **What?"**

" **Am I Remnant or Aqua?"**

"… **Ummm…you're both I guess…"**

"…"

"… **Anyway thank you for reading and as always viewers. Review and Criticize, also chapters will always be updated for grammar, sentences (for fluidity purposes) and mistakes in logic when every chapter is released. So don't worry, if you see something wrong it will probably be corrected next chapter. If not give me a shout at so I can look it over. Again thank you for reading New Beginnings.**

 **-Veran Aval out**


	4. Chapter 3-Daily Work Life

" **Veran Aval here with the next chapter of New Beginnings, I am thankful for all the positive feedback on this. Since this is my first time writing it's really nerve wracking to write. Now I understand a fraction of how authors feel when they are trying to write and update all their stories!"**

" **Anyway, first the disclaimer, all rights go to Monty Oum and Rooster teeth for making RWBY. All I own is my ideas and the OC Rem- *Veran takes a pause at this for a few seconds.**

" **Sorry, about that every time I try to say what I want to say something interrupts me, anyhow, all I own is the OC Rem- * A portal opens up behind Veran**

" **Oh come on! What now Rem-oh its Aqua…" *Aqua appears out of the portal her blue highlights evidence of her current identity.**

" **Sooo…why are you here Aqua…kinda in a middle of something…"**

" **Nothing just came here to see if Remnant is around so I could talk to her"**

'… **But you are Remnant…' I sweat dropped at the thought. "…Why…?"**

" **Just wanted to tell her that she ruined my ship so I took some…actions against her."**

" **Wait what actions! Come back here!" *Aqua had re-opened her portal ignoring my protests.**

" **Don't worry everyone will see soon enough…tell Remnant and the readers I said hi!" *Aqua gave a smile as she re-entered the portal**

" **Stop! That's already breaking the fourth wall…damn it… she's gone…that was weird, but it looks like we are out of time so here is chapter 3. Enjoy."**

* * *

Chapter 3-Daily Work Life

Jaune woke up with a start, his head was pounding and it felt like his entire soul was forced into a whole new body…weird…

"Jaune! You're awake." exclaimed Ruby as she quickly moved towards his side from the rock she was sitting on. Her white cape fluttering behind her…seems like they got back to their original bodies before they died, but…

Jaune's thoughts halted as he felt like he was hit by a Goliath and a Dragon…at the same time. "Ruby how long was I out for?"

"Only for fifteen minutes, we both entered the portal, but it seems that the both of us lost consciousness as we traveled through it." explained Ruby as she gripped onto the white cloak that her mother had worn.

"I see…it looks like we're back to normal as well." said Jaune as he tried to ignore the pain that he was currently feeling.

Seeing Jaune's expression Ruby just gave a slightly sad smile "Painful isn't it…almost feels like the time where we sparred with Dad and Uncle Qrow…don't worry though it'll go away soon." It had been two years since their deaths, but it was still a subject that Ruby didn't like talking about. It was the same for Jaune too, so they rarely mentioned family.

"However, we are not just back to normal Jaune because I have my baby back" said Ruby as her sad smile gave way to a genuine one as she reached behind her unlatching a familiar red rectangular shaped object.

With a flick of her wrist the scythe Crescent Rose appeared in all its glory. It was unbroken and unmarred, its blade sharp, ready to cut anything, as well as everything in its path.

If Ruby had her weapon back then that meant, Jaune looked to his side and saw the familiar pommel of Crocea Mors sheathed in its scabbard. Similar to Ruby's scythe, Crocea Mors seemed undamaged and looked to be in top condition.

"Looks like Remnant did us a favor by giving our weapons back." said Jaune as he carefully stood up, unsheathing Crocea Mors to check if the blade was fine as well.

"Yeah…hey Jaune don't you think 'Remnant' is a little strange." said Ruby as she transformed Crescent Rose back to its compact form.

"Hmmm…strange how?" replied Jaune as he gave the blade he was holding a few practice swings. 'Perfect balance, very sharp, seems like the shield isn't dented anymore as well…'

"I don't know…it's just that the name 'Remnant' sounds more like an alias then a name." said Ruby as she watched Jaune test his weapon out.

"…You're right about that Ruby, but for now we can't dwell on that fact we need to figure out where we are." said Jaune as he finished his practice swing of Crocea Mors and sheathed it. Its familiar clack in the scabbard brought a smile to his face.

"…We are in the past Jaune" said Ruby as she stated the obvious detail.

Jaune resisted the urge to face palm, which was quite a difficult task, was Ruby always this direct? "Yes Ruby, if what Remnant said was true, than we are in the past. What I meant is where in the past? Are we in Vale, Vacuo, Atlas or Mistral?"

"Well, we are definitely not in Vacuo, there are deserts there, could be Atlas, but it doesn't feel too cold. So it's Vale or Mistral" said Ruby, informing Jaune on the possible locations they were in.

Jaune took a few seconds to confirm what Ruby said. The area they were in was quite forested so Vacuo, while hosting some forests, was out of the question since these trees were of a different type.

It was also a possibility there were in Atlas, but it appeared to be Mid-Summer and somewhat hot so it was doubtful. Mistral was also a probability, but a good chunk of it was full of swamps, so the most likely place was Vale.

As Jaune was thinking, Ruby had a great idea that could tell them where they were. "Jaune give me a boost."

"Huh?" said Jaune as he looked at Ruby point at a tree. Realizing what she wanted him to do Jaune took his position under a tree to boost Ruby up. "Good idea Ruby, we can at least map out the general area we're in."

So with a running start, Ruby jumped on Jaune's hands and with his help was able to reach the top of the tree in one leap. As she grabbed and hung off the top of a branch, Ruby looked around for any clues to where they were, however Jaune yelled up to her"Be careful not to snap the branch Ruby!"

At this Ruby stopped searching, was Jaune implying that she was fa- "Jaune Arc, you better not be saying what I think you're saying" said Ruby using Jaune's full name to imply she was annoyed.

"What?" replied Jaune a question mark above his head confused at Ruby's anger?

"…Never mind…besides you'll catch me anyway!"

"Oh, sure! Let me find a Grimm to do that." yelled Jaune his voice full of mirth.

At that Ruby just laughed slightly, it was funny really, in their first-year Jaune was launched by a Death Stalker and knocked Ruby off course from the ground. Who knew it would repeat itself several more times during their run from Salem and it kept getting worse.

First it was a Griffon, then a Goliath, then a Grimm Dragon that knocked him into the sky, it was almost bad luck Jaune was suffering from if not for the fact that the Grimm always knocked him into Ruby when she was in danger. It was almost like…

"Destiny…" Ruby muttered unknowingly, but destiny…destiny could be changed you just hav-

"Hey Ruby, you see anything!"

Ruby sighed at Jaune's interruption of her thoughts, but he was right, no time to think about this stuff so she scouted out the area before her and spotted something large in the distance.

"Jaune, it looks like there's a building to the East of us it looks big and seems to lay on top of a hill or cliff. It might be Beacon Academy!" Ruby called down, it looks like Remnant wasn't lying to them, and they really were in the past.

"Good job Ruby, you can come do-." Jaune was about to tell Ruby to climb back down, but her voice spoke out again, this time it was with concern.

"I see some smoke…but only a little of it, I think something is wrong." said Ruby as she slowly climbed back down finishing her observation of the area.

'Smoke? At this time of day?' thought Jaune as he looked at the Sun which was already well into its afternoon cycle."How far away was it?"

"About five to ten minutes distance if we run there." she replied calculating the distance it would take to reach the spot where she saw the smoke.

"Alright, it looks like we'll be checking out what that smoke is first before we move on to that building you saw, which way was it?"

"Same direction I saw the large structure in." replied Ruby

"Good, we'll at least save some time if this turns out to be nothing. Let's go." said Jaune as he took the lead with Ruby following behind him.

A few minutes later, Jaune and Ruby could hear the sounds of battle happening, but most importantly they heard something they were familiar with.

It was the growls of Beowulfs, looking at each other they gave a nod and cautiously took out their weapons as they approached the location where the sounds of battle were occurring.

Reaching the edge of a clearing they spotted a dirt road, but their main focus was on a couple of covered wagons that were on that road. It looked like they were being attacked by a pack of Beowulfs, numbering at least twenty against what looked to be the guards of those wagons. However, it seemed to be going badly for the guards as some sported serious wounds and one or two were unmoving on the ground.

At the sight of people fighting against their long-time enemies both Jaune and Ruby sprang into action.

"Ruby you take the right, I'll take the left, this should be easy, but watch yourself." said Jaune his tone serious.

"Got it" she replied her voice solemn as well and with that she kicked off their entry with her semblance and bisected a Beowulf in half saving a guard that was going to take a claw to the face.

After three years of constant fighting both Jaune and Ruby understood the difference between having fun and being serious. With lives at stake they had to be serious, they had to be the veteran huntsmen that they were.

As Jaune saw Ruby use her semblance, he bemoaned the lack of his own. For three years he trained, but he couldn't find it. At first he thought it was defensive, something that would defend his friends from danger, but it was just a perk of his aura being so strong.

Three years of constant fighting, but resulting in nothing…it was truly a shame…however….

As a Beowulf saw his approach and lunged at him, Jaune simply moved his head for the strike to barely miss him 'That didn't mean he was weak' thought Jaune as he kicked the Beowulf into another one, the sounds of breaking limbs happening as both tumbled to the ground.

The rest of the Beowulfs on his side, sensing that a bigger threat was here ceased their attacks on the guards and moved to surround Jaune. As Jaune watched the Beowulfs surround him he took a glance at Ruby's side to see how she was doing and regretted it immediately.

'Really Ruby…' thought Jaune as he wanted to smack himself in the head.

Ruby's grin was almost frightening as the dissolving bodies of Beowulfs dissipated behind her, their limbs strewn all over the ground. 'It's only been fifteen seconds, how could she be finished already!'

"Hey Jaune! Hurry up will you, I'm already done here!" said Ruby as she regained her cheerfulness, with all the Beowulfs focusing on him now and no guards in danger she was able to have a little fun joking with him. Furthermore, she was staying close to the guards to make sure no Beowulfs tried to attack them again, except…were the guards inching back from her?

"Huh…strange…you'd think seeing an eighteen year old girl wielding a scythe/gun would make one feel sa-" Jaune tried to mutter, but was interrupted as a Beowulf tried to bite his face off, receiving a stab in the head for its effort.

As if that was a signal all the Beowulfs charged Jaune at the same time, the first one that reached him received the corpse of its comrade that was still impaled on Jaune's sword. The second received a beheading by the sharp and now freed blade of Crocea Mors.

The third, fourth and fifth reached him at the same time, but in a blur of speed, one had its face stomped on, the other two were sent flying from a blow from Jaune's sheath. Their dulled eyes a testament to how much strength Jaune had put into the blow.

The last two were charging him in opposite directions, at this point it was as if time slowed down and Jaune analyzed what to do next.

He could duck and let them hit each other than finish them off, it was cliché, but effective. Jaune could also just stab one with Crocea Mors and use the sheath to bash the other one's head in, which would be good too. As the Beowulfs came closer to him Jaune finally had a plan in his mind as he prepared to stab one of the Beowulfs and flip over him using it as a spring t-

A bang rang out, than a quick second one followed and both Beowulfs were lying on the ground lifeless. Jaune looked at the dissipating corpses and then turned slowly to where the shots came from to see…

Ruby giving him a smile and holding Crescent Rose in its gun form, the barrel still smoking from the dust bullets it fired.

"You were taking too long." said Ruby giving off an innocent smile and look.

At that Jaune's face started to twitch 'Ruby…you've been spending way too much time with your sister' At this thought, Jaune just sighed and began walking towards Ruby, but not before spinning around and decapitating the three Beowulfs that he had injured, but not killed. It looks like they thought they could take him by surprise, but unfortunately they underestimated Jaune's instincts and paid for it.

Without a look at the three he killed Jaune just walked towards Ruby and the dumbfounded guards behind her.

Upon reaching where she was, Ruby opened her mouth to say something. "Well that was a good workout for Crescent Rose."

"Workout? That couldn't even be considered a warm-up, that was too easy." Jaune joked back, but for some reason both Jaune and Ruby cringed when he said those words. 'Too easy?'

For some unknown reason, whether it is from their time in Aqua's world when they unknowingly inhabited their parallel bodies or because of some godly being, they knew of certain words that should never be messed with. 'Don't mess…with Murphy's La-'

Growls could be heard all around the clearing in the forests that surrounded them, and it wasn't just one of them. As Jaune and Ruby watched the multitudes of red eyes that were all staring at them, it was as if a sign had gone off and they all rushed out.

Surveying what surrounded them Jaune gave Ruby a small nudge on the shoulder to get her attention. "Ruby?"

"Yes Jaune?" replied Ruby as she unfurled Crescent Rose back to its scythe mode, the guards she was protecting currently despairing at the sight in front of them.

"I'm an idiot…"

"Yes Jaune…yes you are."

Surrounding them currently was about seventy Beowulfs, twenty Ursas and a group of Death Stalkers numbering at five.

"Well…" started Jaune his voice trying to sound optimistic "At least there's no Alp-"

An additional thirty Beowulfs appeared, with a pair of Alphas leading them.

"Jaune…shut up." said Ruby as she glared at Jaune's stupidity.

"…It -"Jaune tried to say something about it being fine, they could handle this, but another group of fifty Beowulfs appeared with some Boarbatusks following behind. Jaune could feel the glare from Ruby intensify. "Oh come on! I didn't say anything!" Jaune yelled out before the horde of Grimm charged.

"Ruby! Launch!" said Jaune as he changed his sheath to a shield and placed it before him. With a nod Ruby pushed herself off from Jaune's shield and using her semblance, was a whirlwind of death with her scythe among the Grimm horde. Limbs went flying and bodies were cut in half as she passed by the Grimm monsters.

Jaune on the other hand had to handle the other side to make sure the 'guards' who were now… cowering in the wagons weren't in danger, but it was no different on his side. Each slash cut a Grimm down, whether they came in ones, twos, or dozens each one met its death at Crocea Mors or Jaune's brutal tactics at putting them down.

As Jaune faced an Ursa he used the tactics he told the illusionary Professor Port about. Use the weapon to unbalance the Ursa, wait for its attack and then behead it.

' Of course the other steps which included dodging the other stuff trying to kill him was never said, but it wasn't really a comprehensive question' thought Jaune as he used his shield to bash a Beowulf in the head and at the same time dodging one that was aiming for his knees.

In two seconds the one aiming for his knees had been planted into the ground courtesy of his foot, the Ursa who he was trying to kill was beheaded and the Beowulf in front had its face pierced by the edge of his shield.

Jumping backwards from a strike of a Beowulf and rewarding its effort with a slash in the chest, Jaune took a slight breath. It looked like a good number of the Grimm horde on his side had been taken out, all that remained were a couple dozen Beowulfs, a few Ursas and Boarbatusks, as well as…

The two Alphas that were now in front of him…oh joy…

"This is just great…" muttered Jaune as he dodged one of the Alpha's swings and tried to stab it in its chest. He succeeded, but the Alpha wasn't dead yet and Jaune had to quickly block its snarling face from taking a chunk out of his body.

'Wonder how Ruby is doing' thought Jaune as he gave a shove, attempting to dislodge Crocea Mors form the Alpha's chest, all the while trying to protect himself from becoming Grimm food.

With a quick swipe of Crescent Rose the Beowulfs and Ursas that were all facing Ruby slowly dissipated into dust. As she spun her weapon with incredible speed to take off another limb from a Grimm creature, she had to quickly back flip from a stinger of a Death Stalker.

As she landed, she fired a dust round into the Death Stalker's unprotected eye and wounded it. Screeching at its loss the Death Stalker attempted to grab Ruby with its claws, but Ruby wasn't going to get caught so easily.

As the claw came down on her she nimbly jumped and landed on it, running along it towards the Death Stalker's tail. With a jump and precise cut from Crescent Rose the Death Stalker was officially down one stinger. Landing safely behind it Ruby saw the enraged Death Stalker charge her, barreling over its smaller allies.

She quickly shot two more dust rounds into its other eyes, wounding it further. When it came into striking distance, Ruby just dodged the weak claw strike that came at her and rammed Crescent Roses' blade into its wounded eye socket. With a quick twist of her wrist the Death Stalker was finally dead as it lost all its strength to fight.

With the Death Stalker fading into dust Ruby hoped she could get a slight breather, but that wasn't to be as the four other Death Stalkers chose that time to attack her. With all four charging her, Ruby had no choice, but to use her semblance to jump high in the air.

Reaching the apex of her jump and with the Sun shining down on her Ruby considered her options. She really didn't want to use her special power as it wasn't really needed in this situation. She could take them down one by one, but that meant more time for the other Grimm to attack the survivors of the caravan…that meant only one thing.

Luckily, Remnant had replaced all her ammunition so she had the magazines that she wanted, but it was really difficult to make more…

As Ruby began to fall back down to earth, she gave a sigh as she exchanged her current ammo for a specialized one. As Crescent Rose was reloaded, she quickly turned and shot several rounds at the Death Stalkers below.

Impacting on top of the Death Stalkers one could see the rounds explode and leave a small blackened area on top of their white bone armor. At first it looked to be ineffective, but if examined closer, icicles can be seen spouting out of the wounds.

This was a culmination of days of research and a month of experimentation, what Ruby used was a combination of lightning and ice dust. The bullet she shot was designed to cause the piercing damage of lightning dust with the long term and area spreading ice dust.

In basic terms, she enhanced the bullet to pierce as deep as it could into an armored foe and then have the ice dust take effect, spreading inside the Grimm like a virus. Imagine ice growing inside of you…it isn't a pleasant thought.

However, the reason Ruby was so hesitant to use these bullets was because they were extremely hard to make, requiring an enormous supply of lightning dust. Furthermore, the lightning dust had to be measured out precisely and balanced with the ice dust. The wrong measurement could make the bullet too unstable or lack the piercing power she wanted.

Ruby hated to admit it, but even as she was now. She would still sometimes fail in creating the combined lightning/ice bullets. With them on the run from Salem, dust was also quite important so wasting any of it was pretty bad. That was why she cherished every bullet she created from this combination.

Landing on the ground, Ruby gave another sigh as she watched all four Death Stalkers convulse as the ice began to eat away at their insides killing them in a slow manner.

"Too bad I used all of it before we met Salem…"muttered Ruby as she took out the specialized magazine and checked how much she had left. 'Thirteen Bullets, it wasn't too bad since she had one more clip, but if she had to use it constantly…' Ruby groaned at the thought.

Replacing the magazine for a regular one, Ruby turned her head to dodge a Beowulf's lunge at her. As it passed by and turned to lunge at her again it faced the barrel of Crescent Rose. Its last sight was of Ruby's silver eyes as she pressed the trigger, ending its soulless existence.

With the Beowulf in front of her disappearing, Ruby looked around to see what was left of the Grimm she was fighting. It was a pitiful number as there were only five Beowulfs left, with two Ursas and a Boarbatusk.

The remaining Grimm seemed hesitant to fight. They had just seen a young girl take out most of their group and their survival instincts were telling them to run. However, it was in their nature to kill all humans and faunus so their minds warred with each other. Eventually though, nature won out and they all charged her.

As they did, Ruby calmly shot the nearest one to her, then the second and third one. Finally, as an Ursa was about to reach her, she turned Crescent Rose back to scythe mode and took off its legs, shooting it as it fell.

After she finished it off, she twisted her body to ram the scythe in the underbelly of the Boarbatusk that was going to transform to ram her. As the Boarbatusk died, Ruby swiftly pulled out her scythe to take out the two Beowulfs that had decided to rush her at once.

Unlike Jaune though Ruby didn't hesitate and killed both of them with a simple and effective swipe from her weapon. As their bodies disappeared Ruby turned to the only Grimm that was alive…the Ursa.

If you were the Ursa right now, you would be sweating profusely in front of the white hooded young reaper. However, you are not and the Ursa didn't really have a soul or conscious thought so it did the only thing it knew to do. It tried to eat her and was rewarded for its prevalence with a dust round to the face.

With the last Grimm dead Ruby was finally able to take a break, even if it was only a hundred or so it was good to relax after every battle. For some reason though, as Ruby transformed her scythe to its compact form, it felt like she was forgetting something…

'I hope Ruby's doing okay' thought Jaune as he tossed the corpse of a Beowulf at the remaining Alpha and charged it with Crocea Mors in hand.

'…Nah it was probably nothing' thought Ruby as she looked at the caravan to make sure it was okay. Seeing that it was Ruby sat down on a nearby log and proceeded to reorganize her magazines, combining clips that were somewhat spent. She was totally ignorant of the fact that Jaune was fighting on the other side and that the sounds of battle hadn't dissipated yet, to work on her weapon.

After a minute or two of doing that Ruby looked up to make sure the two wagons and its survivors were still safe, but noticed a familiar flag on top of one of the wagons.

'Huh…Jaune might wan- Jaune!' Ruby looked at where Jaune was supposed to be fighting and saw him pull his sword out of a Beowulf. It looked like he was finally finished with his group of Grimm and was walking over to Ruby.

"Hey Ruby, you just finished with your group as well?" Jaune asked as he reached her, stretching his arms before him.

"Yeah…I just finished' Ruby replied as she tried not to sweat because she forgot about him. Hey you can't blame her! With Crescent Rose back Ruby's thoughts were to make sure her baby was working at top condition, that included her ammunition.

"Really?" as a smile appeared on Jaune's face.

"…Really."

"…"

"…"

For some reason Ruby didn't think her words were working, so she tried her last option…she gave a puppy dog look.

Jaune's face twitched at the sight, his mind tried to resist, but for some reason Ruby was really good at making a person feel guilty. As the seconds dragged on Jaune couldn't take it anymore and gave in.

"Alright…you made your point, let's just go see if the people we saved are alright" said Jaune as he turned around and headed for the survivors who had gotten out of the wagon to check on the situation. Some ad moved to check on the bodies that were on the ground.

Unknown to Jaune though, as soon as he turned around Ruby jumped slightly in the air and pumped her fist in a victory pose. 'Works every time' Ruby thought as she followed Jaune.

As Ruby and Jaune approached the survivors, they noticed some details about them that they couldn't at first glance.

All of them wielded swords and spears, some of them also had leather armor and buckling. The rest though sported some bronze armor, but it looked extremely plain to both Ruby and Jaune. Furthermore, as they got closer, the survivors kept a wary eye on them with their hands on their weapons.

'…These guys were cowering in the wagons before from the Grimm and now they think they could take on the two who had basically decimated them…are these guys idiots' thought Jaune, but he really didn't want to antagonize them so he stopped a respectable distance away with Ruby by his side.

A few moments later a man who seemed like the leader of the bunch stepped forward to speak to them. "My group is extremely thankful for your assistance…but it is odd to find a pair of knights nearby and with odd weaponry too…" his voice was gruff, but one could feel the suspicion coming from it.

'Knights? Sure he looked like one, but he really couldn't call him and Ruby knights…' thought Jaune as he tried to figure out the situation.

However, Jaune's thoughts were interrupted as he felt an elbow from Ruby's arm. With a look at her and then at where she was glancing at Jaune saw a familiar flag on the wagon.

'So they were in Mistral, strange though, he couldn't remember any large structures in Mistral except for Haven Academy…'

As Jaune was thinking, the leader of the group continued his words"…If the lady knight needs anymore ammunition for…her weapon, we have plenty in the wag-" before the words could come out of the man's mouth Ruby had already zoomed to the wagons and was busily opening a crate. The guards were surprised, as they never saw someone so fast before.

'Ruby…' thought Jaune despairingly

"Sorry about that…my companion has a slight...passion to make sure her weapon is good to go since her last one got destroyed." apologized Jaune as he put his hand forward "My name is Jaune by the way."

After a brief hesitation the leader put out his hand as well. "Well met Sir Jaune, my name is Sam."

"Good to meet you as well, but there's no need for the Sir stuff, Ruby and me aren't knights." said Jaune

At this, Sam's eyes seemed to narrow and tension seemed to hang in the air. "If I may be so bold then…Jaune, if you are not knights what are you?"

Aware of the growing hostility against him, Jaune unconsciously placed his hand on the pommel of Crocea Mors. When he did that the rest of the guards also started to get agitated and reached for their weapons. Jaune chose his next words carefully "We are…huntsmen"

"Huntsmen? You hunt animals?" asked Sam

"…No…we hunt Grimm." replied Jaune as he still didn't take his hand off his weapon, he wasn't going to kill them, but incapacitate them if the guards proved dangerous.

"Huntsmen…" Sam mutters that word like he was unfamiliar with the title. Jaune was getting increasingly worried about the situation as the tension seemed to peak until Jaune could hear the familiar voice of Ruby.

"Uhhh…Jaune can you come over here please" said Ruby from one of the covered wagons, her voice somewhat worried.

"…Alright…I'll be right there." replied Jaune as he started navigating his way where Ruby was, the guards moved before him, but they all gripped their weapons tighter. 'This does not look good.'

As he reached where Ruby was, she was busy standing over two open crates and was in the process of opening a third one. "Ruby what's wrong?" said Jaune as he kept his eyes on the guards.

"Well…I have some good news and some bad news which one do you want to hear first?" asked Ruby as she finished prying open a third crate and sighed at what she found.

"…Good news." replied Jaune

"We are definitely in the past…" said Ruby as she tried to pry open a fourth crate as well.

"Already knew that Ruby."

"Yeah…this is where the bad news comes in." muttered Ruby as she opened the fourth crate, seeing what she was expecting she reached in and pulled out…a regular dust arrow.

"Ruby…it's a regular dust arrow what's the problem?"

"The problem Jaune…is that they are all dust arrows!" said Ruby as she brandished the arrow in front of his face.

"What?! Ruby did you che-"

"Yes I did check, why do you think I opened multiple crates!" interrupted Ruby as she tossed the dust arrow back into its box. "However, that's not the worst of it."

"There's more?" Jaune asked deadly afraid at what Ruby was saying next. It was all coming together, the strange titles, the weapons of the guards, even their pitiful training and cowardice. Seriously, Mistral was supposed to be a trained and disciplined military, but these guys seemed like unruly kids given sticks to fight.

Ruby nodded as she saw Jaune put the pieces together. "I read about these when I was younger, the make and craft of these arrows are similar to the ones…"

"A hundred years ago?" guessed Jaune, if it was a hundred years it wasn't so ba-

"Two hundred…" said Ruby solemnly

At that Jaune's mind seemed to stop, two hundred years…they were two hundred years in the past…

With Jaune trying to come to terms with that fact, Ruby jumped down from the wagon and dusted herself off.

"Excuse me…hunters?" said a voice

Ruby looked up to see the leader of the group, Sam was it, ask a question.

"Yes?" replied Ruby as she answered for both her and Jaune since he was a little…preoccupied at the moment.

Turning to Ruby, Sam seemed to hesitate before asking his question. "I am sorry if we are not familiar with the term…Huntsmen, but we are again thankful for your help, but…"

Ruby seemed to wait for him to finish his sentence, her hand seemed to grip her cloak tightly, but she was actually waiting to see if she needed to grab her scythe to defend herse-

"…we are wondering what you and your husband are doing in Western Mistral, as a milit-

"Stop!" yelled Ruby as she tried to understand what Sam was talking about. At her yell many of the guards around her were again startled, many almost unsheathing their weapons.

"…I'm sorry? Did I say som-"

"Repeat what you just said" demanded Ruby her eyes seemed to be on fire, but her cheeks had a slight red blush on it.

"…That we are a mili-"said Sam before he was interrupted by Ruby

"No! The other words."

"Why are you in Western Mistral?" asked Sam as he was somewhat dumbfounded at what Ruby was trying to say.

"No, the one where…well." Ruby seemed to hesitate at the words. Did it really seem like Jaune and her wa- wait did he just say Western Mistral. "Did you say Western Mistral?"

"…Yes Western Mistral, we are wondering why you would be here..."

Western Mistral…but didn't Uncle Qrow say that Western Mistral was full of swamps, in fact when we went there it was mostly swamps, not a lot of trees anywhere. However, they were in the past so every country was definitely different geographically.

"Ummm…Hunter Ruby?" said Sam as he tried to get Ruby's attention.

"Sorry…I was distracted, yes?"

"Can you please…can you please escort us the rest of the way to Mistral Hill." asked Sam his voice slightly strained.

"What?" Ruby replied, she was confused these guys looked like they were going to fight them, but now they ask for help?

"My comrades and I are sorry for our hostility, but we were afraid that you were some kind of monsters or the like. We've never seen anyone take that many Grimm before so…"

'Ahhh…' now Ruby understood, these guys showed hostility because they thought we were monsters as well, makes sense…

"…so we ask that you forgive us for that."

"It's no problem, but more importantly what about escorting you?" asked Ruby easily forgiving them.

Sam looked visibly better and his voice seemed to calm down "There are a lot of Grimm on the road and since you took many of them out before, we are wondering if you could escort us to Mistral Hill."

"Mistral Hill?"

"Yes…everyone knows Mistral Hill, it's the vital defensive castle and town against Grimm." said Sam his voice seemed strained again.

Ruby quickly tried to assure him and the guards behind him "OH! That Mistral Hill of course I know what it is…yeah…it's that big…castle thingy on the…cliff."

"…Yes...it is…"

"…"

"…"

"So…about this escort thing." asked Ruby as she tried to divert attention away from her previous words.

"…Of course, it is vital that the supplies in these wagons reach Mistral Hill. They carry military equipment for our men at the castle." said Sam as he tried to press the importance of these supplies.

"I see…can you wait just a few minutes for us to discuss this."

"Of course" said Sam as he backed a fair bit away, his men around him as they talked quietly while glancing at the duo once in a while.

As Ruby debated the pros and cons of escorting these people, Jaune had finally come to terms with their current circumstances. "Ruby…what did I miss?"

"Oh Jaune, finally awake." asked Ruby

"Yeah, sorry about that I was trying to come to terms that we are two hundred years in the past." said Jaune "So…what did I miss."

"Nothing much, just that we are in Western Mistral and that these people." she motioned at the group before her. "Wants us to guard them to a place called Mistral Hill."

"Mistral Hill…never heard of it." said Jaune his mind trying to find if he had ever heard of the place before.

"Never heard of the place Mistral Hill either, but I don't think their lying…"

"Hmm…?"

"They seem too genuine in trying to get these wagons to this supposed 'castle', and I did see something in the same direction." Ruby explained as she stated her reasoning.

"I see…"

"So should we escort them?" asked Ruby, but she already knew what Jaune had decided. If there were people in need it was their job, their duty to help.

"Yes, besides…this Mistral Hill seems like a good place to find out some more information about this time." said Jaune as he understood Ruby's thinking. It was just another day of their life as huntsmen and huntresses, as he beckoned Sam to come closer.

"So have you finished discussing things with each other?" asked Sam, his voice betraying his hopefulness.

"Yes, we are coming with you to Mistral Hill." replied Jaune as he moved his hand for a handshake.

"Thank you so much, we were afraid that we weren't going to make it without your help." said Sam as he grasped Jaune's hand tightly his voice happy. With that the tension seemed to die down, as the guards lowered their hands to their sides. They were even some smiles among them muted as they were.

"Should we get going then." said Jaune as he motioned to the road.

"Of course!" said Sam as he signaled for some guards to take up the drivers seats. Jaune and Ruby just noticed it now, but the wagons were pulled by horses. Since the Grimm didn't really attack animals the horse were in good condition.

As Sam's men got into position, some carrying wounded and dead to be put in some way in the wagons, he motioned for them to get moving and moving they did. Turning to Jaune and Ruby "You can follow us anyway you like." He said as he started to move with the wagons.

Jaune looked at Ruby and signaled to her 'You take the East and I'll take the West, be cautious just in case.'

At that Ruby nodded and moved to the East of the two wagons while Jaune moved to the West. As they started traveling both Jaune's and Ruby's thoughts on the future was unclear, but one thing was for certain.

They would keep moving forward, for their friends, their families and the future.

Chapter 3-Daily Work Life End

* * *

" **Another chapter finished, this took some times since I had to think really carefully on where they would be. Also, if you are confused by the title of this chapter, it was just to signify their Daily Life as Huntsman, which is to kill some Grimm and protect the people."**

" **Anyway, it's odd, Aqua said she had a surprise for us…oh well…can't be any- *A portal opened up behind Veran.**

" **Oh good, Aqua I nee- oh…it's just you Remnant…"**

" **What's with that tone of voice!" said Remnant as her red hues stood out from Aqua's blue ones.**

" **Nothing…still it's confusing to label you two as Remnant and Aqua so…just give me one second* clicking sounds on a keyboard could be heard**

"… **and done." I said**

" **What did you do?" asked Remnant confused at my actions.**

" **Oh! Just made you two separate entities, so now you are officially just Remnant." I stated proudly**

" **Uh-huh…" replied Remnant as she tried, but failed to sound interested.**

"… **Still, why are you here Remnant?" I asked her**

" **Can't I have some fun and a break from my job?"**

 **I deadpanned at her "No, besides you did nothing anyway."**

" **I did too and I am tired because of it!"**

" **Really…what did you do?" I asked suspiciously**

" **Nothing!" she replied quickly to my question.**

" **I see…well leave me alone I have to work on the fourth chapter of Beginnings, so I have no time to play with you"**

" **But…isn't that on your desk right now." as Remnant pointed at a few pages that was on my desk.**

" **This is weird…I didn't even sta-" I paused as I picked up the pages and skimmed through a few. For a few minutes one could see my shoulders shake.**

" **Impsso…It's not possible" as I flipped the papers to the side and took out a large book and skimmed through it.**

" **Ummm…Veran?" said Remnant as she was afraid of what I was doing at the moment, but I had no time for her.**

" **It can't be her…not her either, wait a minute…sister…knight …AQUA!"* Veran grabbed Remnant's shoulders.**

" **Bring out Aqua right now this very instant! Bring her out so I can strangle her."**

" **But..you…just said...that we are…two entities." said Remnant as she was getting dizzy by my shaking.**

 **I calmed down…she was right…but there's no way I can get her from here. "Remnant I need you to-"but she wasn't in front of me anymore.**

" **What got you so riled up" said Remnant as she picked up the book I was reading and was about to lift it for all the readers to see.**

" **NO" I yelled tackling her, unfortunately the book spun in the air and landed in the perfect position to be seen on the screen. On the entire screen were three words before it cut off.**

 **NIKOS FAMILY LINE**

* * *

Extra/Omake-Aqua's Universe (Vale)

As a portal opened up on a roof of a house Aqua could be seen leaving it. However, one can see her laughing manically like a villain from a game, as she quickly applied her powers to not be seen or hit.

"Ah…yes…sweet revenge." said Aqua to no one in particular. The face of the current Aqua was nothing like the regal being she was before.

After a few minutes of laughing, then giggling she regained control of her body. 'Now then…let's go-"Aqua's next thoughts were interrupted as she heard a scream in the distance. Was that…her universe's Jaune?

In a few moments, Aqua teleported herself to where her world's Jaune was currently tied up in a… courtroom? 'What was going on?!'

Jaune Arc was having a really bad day, for some reason he couldn't remember anything from yesterday, but he did make a new friend. Ruby Rose was a young fifteen year old girl who, like him, was the leader of Team RWBY, the team that lived just across from them!

He had woken up right next to her and they had hit it off like old friends, it was quite strange really… but they talked for hours at that bench before deciding it was time to head to bed.

So like the gentleman he was, he escorted her to Team RWBY's room, said good night and went to his team's dorm.

It was odd that his team wasn't in, but Jaune just assumed it was for some nighttime studying at the library, but Jaune wasn't really up for studying, so he had changed and went to bed.

It was nothing out of the ordinarily, just a regular night of sleep, now though, he was panicking, because for some reason he had woken up in the morning with ropes bound tightly around his arms in what looked like some courtroom. So of course he had screamed in panic!

"What's going on here!" he yelled, scanning the room to see…his team?

"Pyrrha, Ren, Nora…what are you guys doing?" questioned Jaune as he saw them to his right in the stands above.

"Don't worry Jaune, just answer truthfully and it will be alright." answered Pyrrha her eyes glowing with a silent determination.

"…What?" said Jaune dumbfounded, but he was prevented from asking more when he heard a slight noise to his left.

"Uhhh…hey Jaune." said Ruby his newfound friend, she was on the direct left of him, but unlike him she wasn't tied up.

"Ruby…do you have any idea what's going on." asked Jaune as he hoped Ruby had some answers, but was crushed when she didn't

"No idea, I was dragged here by Yang, my sister by the way, to this place." said Ruby as she yawned, explaining as much as she could.

"I see…" Jaune noticed that on the left of her in the stands was Team RWBY except…why was the blonde, who he recognized as Yang, was looking at him like she wanted to murder him in a brutal manner. However, before Jaune could ponder the thought he heard someone say "All Rise".

As Team members WBY and NPR stood up, Jaune was compelled to do so as well. Ruby was still tired so she just laid there on the chair trying to keep her eyes open. Jaune then saw the Headmaster walk in with a…judge's cloak?

'Thank Monty…maybe the Headmas-' Jaune's thoughts stopped as he saw Ozpin sporting some scratches on his face and what looked to be a…whip mark.

As Ozpin reached the seat where the judge was supposed to sit, he motioned for everyone to be seated as he sat down.

When Jaune sat down, his mind was racing, what had happened, it seemed like he was on trial for something? Did they find out a secret that no one should know, Jaune could think of a few like his pajama bunny suit that he brought.

It was so embarrassing that his mom packed it for him that if it was found out he would be shunned by society for-

"We are in session for the trial of Mr. Jaune Arc for the suspected beguiling of Ms. Ruby Rose." said Ozpin as he produced a gavel in one hand and a coffee mug in the other. Got to have his morning coffee…

'…What the Hell!' screamed Jaune inwardly. Beguiled! Jaune could barely smooth talk a girl, yes he knew that for a fact, and they were accusing him of charming his newfound friend?!

"Before we truly start though, does the Defendant want to say anything before the accusations begins?" said Ozpin as he sipped his coffee. Good thing one precious container survived Glynda's rampage.

"YES, can you please tell me what's going on? Why am I tied up? Why am I accused of beguiling Ruby and when did we even have a Courtroom!" yelled Jaune as he tried to understand what was going on here.

"…We always had a courtroom Mr. Arc, for the law students of the Academy, if there is nothing else Ms. Yang will read your charges." said Ozpin

"Wait a minute! You only answered one of my questions!" but Jaune was ignored as Yang stood up.

"Jaune Arc, you are accused of making eyes at my little sister, holding my sister's hands…*cough probably, attempting to kiss her *cough cough probably, attempting to-

"Wait just a minute, objection! She just coughed 'probably' at the end of that second and third charge your honor! I just heard her say that." said Jaune as he moved his bounded hands outward to point out Yang's coughing.

"…Objection overruled, please continue Ms. Xiao Long." declared Ozpin as he banged his gavel twice and took another sip of his coffee.

Jaune could only stare at Ozpin's ruling 'This was injustice!'

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted." said Yang as she started stating the charges again "-attempting to escape punishment for said actions of beguiling my little sister, avoided torture from yours truly, avoided castration from yours truly, avoided breaking of bones from Team RWBY, and finally making a fool of Yang Xiao Long. Those are the charges Mr. Arc is facing currently." Yang finished as she sat down again.

'…Half of those charges are about you not being able to kill me!' thought Jaune as he tried to wiggle out of his restraints. Maybe Ruby could…Ruby was currently sleeping in her chair…

"Interesting, very interesting does the Defendant have anything to say to these charges?" asked Ozpin

'Calm down Jaune…just think this rationally…' Jaune thought to himself as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Your honor, I deny every one of these charges, I ask Ms. Yang where these charges came from and when?" said Jaune as he tried to defend himself.

"Your honor these charges came to light when the defendant Jaune Arc communicated with my sister Ruby yesterday." Interjected Yang "He should be punished by the highest authority of the law, but we might settle with him being given into our…loving arms…"

Jaune shivered at that as Yang gave him a crooked smile that promised death. "Your honor I would like to state that I have no memories of yesterday's events! So everything Ms. Yang has said should be invalid as I was not in my right mind!" said Jaune as he desperately tried to keep himself from Team RWBY's grasp, especially from Yang's hands.

Murmurs could be heard among Team WBY and NPR as they discussed this recent evidence. Jaune couldn't remember what happened yesterday?

"Amnesia? Are you certain Mr. Arc." asked Ozpin curious at what Jaune was currently doing.

"Yes, definitely amnesia" said Jaune nodding his head rapidly. It looks like his team was becoming convinced, as well as part of RWBY. It would explain the odd behaviors of the leaders yesterday.

"Well…that would certainly be a factor for your inno-"

"Objection!" yelled Yang as she tried to regain her momentum. Jaune Arc was not getting away!

"Yes, Ms. Xiao Long?" said Ozpin as he eyed her critically.

"I would like my sister Ruby to testify." said Yang as she pointed to her sleeping sister.

"…Very well, Ms. Rose can you-" Ozpin began, but Ruby was too tired to even listen as she slept.

"Ms. Rose…Ms. Rose…" Ozpin again tried to say Ruby's name to rouse her, but she didn't get up. "Well it appears that-"

"Wait, I know how to get her up…RUBY COOKIES." Yang said

"Where!" said Ruby as she sat up immediately her eyes trying to blink out the drowsiness she felt. When she realized that Yang had tricked her she pouted cutely. "Yaannnggg please stop doing that…." she said as she yawned again.

As Jaune saw Yang yell cookies, he had a great idea to ensure his innocence. It was evil…diabolical…well not really, he was just going to offer cookies to Ruby to state the same thing he had. It wasn't even a lie really, as he had talked to her yesterday about their lack of memories.

"Ms. Rose can you please state what you remember yesterday?" questioned Ozpin, the case would hinge on Ruby's response.

As Ruby again yawned, she was about to say the same thing Jaune said, but was distracted as Jaune was trying to whisper something to her.

"Pstt…Ruby I have a proposal for you…jus-"Jaune's words were drowned out as Ruby focused on one word. 'Proposal? Why did that word sound so familiar?'

At that moment, Ruby's mind began to play a memory that seemed like a dream to her. It was her memory …but wasn't at the same time?

"Ruby Rose…" said a voice 'Was that Jaune's voice' thought Ruby

"Would you Ruby Rose…" as an image came into picture 'Yeah it was definitely Jaune and…was he kneel-!' Ruby's mind seemed to stop, her mom told her about this! When a man was kneeling in front of you and was saying those words!

"Do me the honor…" said the now revealed Jaune. Ruby was turning a bright red as she saw Jaune kneeling before her, a knight in shining armor. It wasn't that she disliked him, but this was all too much for her, like a story her mom told her. This had to be a dream then right?

"Of…-Ruby? Ruby? Are you okay?" said Jaune's voice. At that Ruby was pulled back to the real world, but was still off in dreamland. 'What did Mom say to do when a person proposed? Oh!' thought Ruby hazily. It was embarrassing, but this was all a dream…so it was okay…?

Jaune was very curious at Ruby's condition, when he mentioned his plan she seemed to go off in a dreamlike state, but it seemed like she was out of it now. 'Thank Monty for that, the court was getting impatient.'

"Ruby can you ple-"Jaune's words were halted as Ruby moved her face close to his and kissed him…on the cheek. However, because of the angle it looked like she had kissed him fully on the mouth…

The silence was deafening in the courtroom, as Ruby swayed back from him, her face blushing red as her eyes seemed lidded. No one spoke, not one person attempted to speak a word, there was total and absolute silence…until…

"I do." said Ruby as she smiled happily at Jaune.

For a moment after Ruby's words everyone's minds were racing, even Ozpin's, as they attempted to understand what she just said. They had to be explanations to this right? There had to be plenty of questions that ended up with Ruby saying those words, but the only thing that came to mind were…wedding vows…or…proposals.

Finally Yang's arm was raised in the air, her eyes eerily empty "Your honor?" Ozpin didn't even acknowledge her words, his coffee forgotten as he tried to figure out how to explain to both families.

For Monty's sake how was he supposed to explain to Taiyang, Summer Rose, Qrow and even Raven Branwen, who was God knows where, that Ruby Rose had married at the age of fifteen!

Yang took Ozpin's silence as an affirmative and continued "May I kill Defendant Jaune Arc." At that Ozpin was almost tempted to nod, but thought better of it. If she did then the Arc family would kill him, Julian and his wife would want an explanation …if it wasn't satisfactory…Ozpin gulped at that.

…There was one way though, they could just forget this all happened and be on their merry way. Yes, that was an excelled idea, a perfect idea. Ozpin tried to convince himself of this fact.

"I declare this trial over, Jaune Arc you have been found not guilty by this court and free to go, let us all forg-" Ozpin's words were blocked out by the pandemonium that occurred. Yang had leaped from the stands intent on strangling Jaune, while Blake and Weiss tried to restrain her. However, Yang wasn't a fighting prodigy for nothing and she struggled with everything she had.

This resulted in Team WBY fighting each other, Blake and Weiss trying to get Yang under the control and the Yang intent on getting the boy who had allegedly proposed to her fifteen, FIFTEEN, year old sister.

In the other stands, Pyrrha was frozen for a second, her mind kept repeating 'It can't be true…can't be...' that was when Pyrrha snapped and jumped down as well. She wasn't going to kill Jaune… just question…him…yes question, but Ren and Nora tackled her as well. Ren with a stoic face and Nora with a grinning one as she joined in the 'wrestling'

This resulted in the same situation with Yang, with Pyrrha squaring off against Ren and Nora.

As chairs went flying, floorboards being ripped from the floor and the decorated flags and banners that were in the courtroom ripped to pieces. Ozpin tried to stop the fighting as he banged his gavel twice and shouted to both Team RWBY and JNPR "Team RWBY and JNPR stop this instant! YOU ARE DESTR-"

With a heavy thud the main doors to the courtroom was opened and in walked …

Glynda Goodwitch with a bunch of students behind her, she was facing away from the carnage so she couldn't see the disaster yet…but…

"-and this is the legal courtroom where you students will be testing your wi-wi-" Glynda's words had stopped as she saw what had happened to the courtroom.

Chairs were broken and scattered in pieces around the room. The floorboard had giant indents and some of the boards were missing as well. The flags and banners that had cost quite a bit of money were also ripped to pieces, and the stands looked like a bomb had gone off.

Team WBY and NPR were also squaring it off in a supposed death match on the sides, not even paying attention to her entrance. However, what Glynda focused most on was the fact that her boss was dressed as a judge, had a damn coffee mug in front of him and was holding a gavel! It was his damn fault wasn't it!

Ozpin was sweating, he was literally sweating as Glynda looked at him in a murderous rage. The situation had gotten out of control, he thought he would be entertained by this trial, and a small immature part of him wanted revenge on Jaune for spilling his coffee secrets, but now…now…he was a dead man.

As the situation continued and Glynda walked with purposeful steps towards him, ignoring the brawling teams and the students that had followed her, Ozpin looked at his coffee mug.

"Just…just one last sip…" Ozpin whispered as he reached to pick up the mug, but the ground shook suddenly and his beautiful coffee spilled in front of him…

"NOOOOO-" his scream was drowned out as Glynda had reached him…

In the middle of this entire thing, Ruby had fallen asleep again after saying those faithful words, her arms wrapped around Jaune as she slept contently next to him. Dreaming of her imaginary 'prince', while Jaune on the other hand…well…the poor boy fainted. It seemed the whole thing proved too much for his brain and he had faded into blissful sleep. Poor Jaune didn't know what was going to happen next…

The funniest part though, was Aqua who was floating above them. After seeing this whole situation devolve into…into…this nightmare, she had attempted to ram her head into a nearby pillar. However, because she had made herself intangible she only made her head disappear into it.

"MUST… RESIST… URGE… TO CHANGE FATE" screamed Aqua. Letting Remnant's 'children' inhabit hers was the greatest mistake of her life!

Her ideal world, the world where she had planned for everything had turned into this…this…comedy show!

For the second time, Aqua vowed vengeance. Remnant had not only distablized her ship, she had totally sunk it! She had sunk everything!

"DAMN YOU REMNANT!"

Omake End

 **...Review and Criticize**

 **-Veran Aval out.**


	5. Chapter 4-Knight Commander

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rooster teeth and Monty Oum for creating the Web show RWBY I own nothing except my ideas and my…OC…**

" **Yes nothing interrupted me th-"**

" **Can you please HELP ME!" said a panicked voice in the background.**

"…"

" **Hey! She's trying to kill me. Help!"**

"… **Hello Everybody, Veran here bringing you another chapter of New Beginnings, but before we begin some questions to answer."**

" **Don't ignore me! Wait put that dow-" *a crash could be heard**

" **First what is the 'Nikos Family Line...' can't really tell you much since it is plot related, but as it stands you should all know what it means…if you don't well you'll find out in this chapter. "**

" **Help! Send Hel-"*multiple crashes could be heard**

" **The Second Question "Is this going to involve Time Hopping'…also plot-related so can't tell you much"**

' **Are you listening to m-HOW CAN YOU CARRY THAT?" * A very heavy impact sounded.**

"… **The Third Question, or more like statement, this is a Lancaster shipping so why the 'maybe'. Now to be perfectly honest with you readers, I initially created this fanfic with the intention of only Jaune going back. However, I thought that was too lonesome and the prologue for Beginnings was a little…too 'intense' to leave Ruby behind. So instead of one veteran hunter, we have two now! Oh the fun I am going to have! So the summary should be amended from the 'maybe'….except for the fact that these…" *Veran points to the side of him where the voice was yelling for help.**

"… **two keep throwing wrenches into those plans" *the screen pans over to see Aqua and Remnant vehemently arguing with each other.**

" **YOU BROKE MY SHIPPING." yelled Aqua to Remnant as she attempted to throw another chair at her.**

" **I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT." Remnant yelled back as she dodged the chair that was thrown at her. *The camera pans back to Veran**

 **So now you can understand why I am so hesitant to change the summary…but if it really bothers you I could just-*A few keyboard sounds could be heard**

" **-do this and press this button right he-" I didn't get to finish my sentence as a hand was holding onto my finger that was about to descend on the enter button. *Slowly the camera zooms out to reveal…**

"… **Aqua…why are you holding my finger?"**

" **Don't you dare push that key, my pairing still has a chance!" yelled Aqua as she held onto my finger, her eyes filled with tears. 'Was this really the OC I created?'**

"… **You do know that this is for Remnant's Ruby and Jaune right?"**

" **Doesn't matter, Arkos all the way!" she yelled * If you readers hadn't guessed yet…she's a major Arkos fan even when it's in different dimensions...**

 **I was slightly sweating at this '…She has the eyes of a crazy person…'**

" **Let g-"**

" **No!"**

" **Let me ju-"**

" **No! Promise that you won't press the button!" said Aqua her tears falling from her eyes as she looked at me…why do I have to deal with this…**

" **Fine, I promise now let me go." I was too tired for this jo- 'Wait why was Aqua holdin-'**

" **Don't you da-" I started to yell, but my voice was drowned out as Aqua hoisted a table high above her and simply stated "Just to make sure!" as the table descended on my compu-*Smash**

* * *

Chapter 4-Knight Commander

With a smash from Jaune's shield and a slash from Crocea Mors. The Beowulf in front of him fell to its knees and slowly decayed into dust. As it did, Jaune gave a sigh and sheathed Crocea Mors back into its scabbard, as he looked around the rest of the battlefield.

The wagons that were behind him remained untouched and the guards that had formed a defensive formation were safe as well. This pack of Grimm had not even reached their positions to attack them, but what concerned Jaune the most was the frequency that these Grimm were attacking.

In total, this was the seventh group of Grimm that had been dealt with and not including the Grimm they had killed in their rescue attempt. They must have killed an estimate of four hundred Grimm of varying types.

If these Grimm had come at them all at once, even Ruby and Jaune would have some trouble at attacking their enemies and defending the guards at the same time. Luckily, since the Grimm had come in groups of fifties or less there was no problem in dispatching them.

Still, if they kept encountering Grimm …

"Hunter Jaune!"

Jaune was shaken out of his thoughts when the leader of the group, Sam walked up to him.

"Thank you for your hard work Hunter, my men and I would never have made it this far without your help." said Sam as he gave a small smile. After spending some time traveling together, Sam's posture was now more relaxed then tense when he met Jaune initially. It seemed that the fears of Ruby and him being monsters in disguise had dissipated and were replaced with respect.

"It's no problem at all." Jaune gave a grin back "But do you know how far we are from Mistral Hill?"

"We shouldn't be far now, maybe a few more miles and we should see the Fortress walls soon enough." replied Sam, as he began walking again when the wagons were ready to go. Jaune followed behind him, intending to question Sam further.

"So…Sam… do you know why there is so many Grimm around here?" asked Jaune as he kept one eye on Sam and the other on the woods around the road. Ruby was doing the same as she kept watch on the opposite side.

"No idea…it is usually barren of Grimm most of the time and we might find a pack or two, but never in these numbers…"

'Increase in Grimm aggression…for some reason that didn't sit well with him' thought Jaune, as he opened his mouth to ask another question Sam interrupted him.

"Hunter…I must apologize for the conduct of my men and I…we must have looked like cowards to you when you tried to save us." He said, his tone losing his previous mirth. Sam's face was not even looking at Jaune's, instead it was focused on the road in front of him.

"It's no problem…Ruby and I understand why you guys would be afraid…" replied Jaune as he could somewhat understand their feeling. When faced with overwhelming numbers, one would definitely feel despair and give up all hope of survival.

"…It's not that we are only afraid Hunter, you see…most of the people around you are actually just regular people volunteering for service.

'Regular people, that meant…!' thought Jaune surprised at that fact. That explained things, even two hundred years in the past Jaune expected Mistral to be well disciplined. So he was surprised that the guards hadn't retained their formations when fighting against overwhelming numbers. This also made him feel like forgiveness was a given in this situation, these guys were just civilians, regular militia who were not even veteran troops.

"Then why are you transporting military supplies." questioned Jaune as he carefully observed the faces around him. Looking closely, most of them were actually young men in their mid-twenties. Sam himself looked to be only thirty at least.

"…Mistral right now is in a very bad spot Hunter…we've had to divide our resources in maintaining Mistral Hill and the Capitol, which leaves us a shortage of actual troops to use."

"So Mistral allows civilians to fight?" for some reason Jaune was reminded about Vale's own expansion of Mountain Glenn.

"Civilians? That's a weird name to say, but if that is another word for the lower classes then yes and no." laughed Sam slightly.

"Yes and No?"

"In actual fighting Mistral deploys its regular forces to fight for them, we on the other hand are given a three week training course and then sent on supply runs between the Capitol City and other locations." explained Sam

"…Aren't these supply runs a little…difficult for your groups." asked Jaune slightly confused on why Mistral would send out barely trained people outside the walls. 'Wouldn't they lose more then they gained?'

"Not at all! As I said before, when transporting supplies we barely meet any Grimm and they are usually in groups of twelve or a max of twenty, nothing we can't handle."

"I see…" mused Jaune as he understood somewhat Mistral's reasons for sending them out. They could get some experienced troops with little to no risk on these runs. However, when Ruby and I had met them they seemed to have trouble…fatigue maybe?

"Besides, we usually receive the help of a Knight that leads the group." continued Sam as he didn't notice Jaune's thoughtful form. 'Knight?' thought Jaune, he really wished he paid more attention in Doctor Oobleck's history class now.

"You mistook us for Knights as well, what are these 'Knights? Is it a title or just…" Jaune trailed off, were knights the armored beings from the story books or were they…

"You don't know what a 'Knight' is Hunter?" said Sam surprised, most people would know the Knights of Mistral. As Jaune explained his thoughts on what a Knight was, Sam just slowly nodded his head.

"You are half correct my friend, some Knights are as you say they are, but at the same time most are completely different."

"You see…" Sam began to explain to Jaune "Knights are a kind of title bestowed on a person that has done incredible deeds for the Kingdom of Mistral. No matter the birth or level of riches anyone can become a knight if they are skilled enough in battle. It is also a symbol of hope for the Mistral people and the rumors say each Knight can take down at least fifty to a hundred Grimm down without a scratch."

'Fifty to a hundred…that wasn't a bad amount.' thought Jaune as he listened to Sam speak some more.

"Each Knight wields a weapon they are most proficient with and are usually masters of their field. Even if it's a sword, spear, bow or even unorthodox weaponry, a Knight is expected to be most proficient in their choice weapons, while knowledgeable in the rest. However…" Sam appeared to gaze far off, as if he was remembering something long ago.

"…Knights also have the special honor of being knighted before the royalty and if their aura is locked, it will be unlocked by one of the royals…a very rare honor. It is a sign to show that they were recognized by all to possess the skills to have the rank as a Knight of Mistral."

Jaune, for now, was following what Sam was saying. The Knights of Mistral was basically the elite group of Hunters and Huntresses. The only difference was the degree of weaponry and trainin-

"I have a question." piped up a voice that was near them.

As both Jaune and Sam turned, they saw Ruby right next to them, her voice was the one that had spoken up.

"Ruby shouldn't you be watching your side?" asked Jaune concerned that Ruby left her position.

"I'll get back to it soon, but I saw you two talking and wanted to know what it was about." explained Ruby

"How much did you hear?"

"Most of it, but I wanted to ask Sam something" said Ruby as she turned to the person in question.

"Of course Hunter Ruby, how may I help you?" replied Sam nervously. It almost seemed like he was scared of the white cloaked reaper.

Jaune couldn't understand Sam's worry, it was just Ruby. In fact thinking about it now, didn't he notice before that most of the people during the rescue attempt and even now were keeping their distance from her? Really odd…

However, contrary to what Jaune thought, Sam wasn't worried about Ruby exactly. He was actually more concerned on the item on her back. Specifically, at the magical compact box that contained that huge scythe that could shoot projectiles that made holes in Grimm. He also saw how she used it close up and Sam really didn't want to be at sharp end of her weapon.

"Sam…how many of these Knights are there?" Ruby asked her voice serious. 'Did Ruby pick up on something that I missed?' thought Jaune as he examined Sam's reaction.

At first Sam appeared conflicted to answer, it was like weighing the pros and cons of telling them, but finally with a whisper so low that only Jaune and Ruby could hear "…Fifty"

'Fifty! That was a small number… even for an elite group. That number just seemed…wrong to him' as Jaune was taken aback by the low amount.

"I thought so…" muttered Ruby her voice so low that Jaune was barely able to catch it. "I have another question if you don't mind?"

Sam just nodded, prepared for what Ruby was going to say next. Jaune was also listening intently on Ruby's next inquiry.

"Where is your Knight then …you said groups like yours are usually lead by a Knight, but…" at that Ruby left the question open.

Sam didn't answer Ruby's query, his nervousness replaced by a solemn attitude as he pointed at one of the wagons. The implication of his action was quite clear. For the wounded, one of the wagon's contents was distributed to the other to make room for them to rest on, but that wasn't all it was for…it was also used to carry the dead back.

Jaune didn't want to make any assumptions, but judging by the fact that they didn't see anyone who looked like a Knight among the dead or wounded, it meant…

Sam confirmed his thoughts with the next words "We were only able to recover his leg…"

At that Ruby just bowed her head slightly, but her face wasn't shocked and neither was Jaune's. They saw comrades being attacked and eaten by Grimm before, towns burned down and remains chewed to bits. It didn't mean they could get used to it, but the undeniable truth was that people died to the Grimm. Jaune and Ruby realized that fact a long time ago. Jaune didn't even want to ask how the knight had died or how they had recovered the leg…it wasn't good to bring up this kind of topic.

"Thank you Sam…for answering my questions" said Ruby as she slowly walked back to her side of the wagons to continue her watch. After a brief moment of hesitation, Jaune told Sam that he would be back to speak more and followed her.

"Ruby." called Jaune as he matched steps with her.

"…Looks like you're the one leaving his post now Jaune." she said giving a smile, but to Jaune he knew it wasn't real at all.

Jaune sighed at this, it seems like Ruby was slightly depressed now for asking questions that hit a little too close to home...so he did something that might help his friend out.

"Jaune I'm fine don-"Ruby couldn't finish her sentence to reassure him as her cheeks were gripped lightly with Jaune's hands. Ruby's heart seemed to launch from her chest as Jaune's face seemingly started to go towards her, was Jaune going to-

With a pull, Jaune used his hands to make her face take on multiple expressions, some funny and some serious. After thirty seconds of this and with snickers or laughs coming from the people around them, Jaune finally released Ruby's face.

"Feeling better now?" asked Jaune his face breaking into a grin.

"…I am going to get you back for this." said Ruby as she continually massaged the areas where he had pulled her cheeks.

"Sure you are…feeling okay now?"

"…A bit…thanks Jaune" said Ruby as she gave a slight smile, this one while smaller, was more genuine then the last.

"No problem Ruby, anytime…but if you don't mind me asking how did you know to ask that kind of question?" asked Jaune his curiosity spiked.

At this Ruby just gave him an odd look "Really? Couldn't you tell in the way he was speaking? It was like he was describing something grand, but at the same time his voice was…subdued."

Jaune couldn't deny that fact, Sam did seem sad almost when he mentioned a Knight's job description. Ruby was also the one who was more perceptive of the two of them when feeling out a person's emotional state.

"Was there anything else?"

"Knowledge." Ruby said simply

"Knowledge?"

Ruby nodded "Didn't you hear how he stated the number of Knights left remaining, didn't it seem a little strange to you?"

'Strange?' thought Jaune "It was made up of fifty members' right? I assumed that was because it was an elite group of people."

"An elite group that has only fifty members?"

"…A very elite group?"

"Jaune!"

"Okay, Okay, no need to get angry Ruby. Still, I think I know what you're talking about." said Jaune as he held his hands up in a calming gesture.

"Do you really?" asked Ruby her eyes raised in disbelief.

"Well, considering what Sam said and where we are, I am assuming that Mistral had a lot of knights before, maybe in the hundreds?

"Correct!" said Ruby as she gave him a smile "And?"

Jaune carefully crafted his next answer, because for some reason Ruby's smile was odd. It told him that giving the wrong answer would not turn out well for him, but Ruby wouldn't do anything to him…

"...However, since the number is so low that must mean they had been losing members of this elite group..."

"Again Correct!" said Ruby her smile a little wider "And?"

"…It must be related to the recent Grimm attacks." continued Jaune his voice a little anxious now. "Since Grimm didn't appear so frequently before and in such numbers. Mistral must have been losing Knights constantly on their periodic supply runs between their Capitol and this Mistral Hill." said Jaune as he gave his answer some more thought.

"The reason they probably didn't stop these supply runs despite the losses, is probably because Mistral Hill is a strategic location. I'm guessing it might also house quite a lot of people since it's an expansion from the Mistralian Capitol so they can't leave it under-supplied." reasoned Jaune. "Well something to think about later, that should answer everything Rub-"

Ruby was still smiling at him and from an outsider's perspective it might seem like her smile was innocent, as well as adorable, but to Jaune it was far from that.

"Jaune you are forgetting the most important and simplest thing." said Ruby her face looking at his own and her mouth turned into a wide grin.

Jaune was frozen, he really didn't want to ask her what he forgot, it felt like saying anything would be signing his death warrant, but the information could be important. "…What did I forgo-" That was all Jaune could get out before Ruby suddenly lost her smile.

At first Jaune thought he was in trouble, but her head had quickly turned to the right, eyes concentrated on the trees that surrounded the eastern side of the road. The playful mood between the two took a dive as the tension rose in the air. The nearby guards who were watching them, but could not hear them, also felt the tension increase. Their hands unconsciously gripped their weapons tighter.

When Ruby had turned Jaune realized that something was going on and his own face became more serious "You see something?"

For a few moments Ruby didn't answer him, her eyes focused on the forests then "…Seems like a Beowulf, but it disappeared as soon as I saw it."

"A scout?" asked Jaune, he was slightly confused, while Grimm were not unintelligent, as shown by the more advanced Grimm such as the Dragons or Goliaths, this was a Beowulf. Sure they had some pack tactics, but they attacked immediately when they faced humans. The only time they seemed to be organized was when Salem was in control.

"Could be…" said Ruby as she gave one more cursory look then focused back on Jaune

"…Interesting." muttered Jaune as his mind organized all the information he had gained.

"Hmm…?"

"It's nothing, but it is something to keep in mind, anyway thanks for the information Ruby, I think it's time that I get back to my area." stated Jaune as he was going to move back to where Sam was, but felt his back being held by Ruby's hands. "Uhhh…Ruby what are you doi-?"

"Where do you think you're going Jaune, we're not finished yet."

'Don't turn around! Don't turn around!' Jaune kept saying that phrase in his mind like a prayer.

"Jaune… can you please turn around?" said Ruby, her voice kind and compassionate, but Jaune knew the truth!

However, this is Jaune Arc we are talking about and his personality just couldn't resist when a friend is asking for something…even if that friend was going to potentially hurt him. So Jaune slowly sucked in a breath of fresh air and with an almost mechanical feeling turned around.

'It couldn't be that bad' thought Jaune…he couldn't help it, he screamed.

* * *

As Jaune walked over to Sam, the brown-reddish haired leader asked a question "Is everything alright Hunter Jaune, I heard you scre-" Sam's voice stopped, as he observed Jaune's face.

"Yes everything's alright Sam, Ruby was just a little upset about the questions she asked you earlier. It hit a little too close to home, but she's alright now." replied Jaune as stood beside him.

Sam didn't say anything, in fact his attention was solely focused on Jaune's face, and finally with a little hesitation "Umm…Hunte-"

"Just call me Jaune, no need for titles." Jaune smiled as he said this.

"As you wish…Jaune, but if it isn't rude…what happened to your face?"

"I ask that you ignore it for now Sam."

"But it's-"

"Please ignore it Sam." stated Jaune his voice sounding slightly strained.

"…Okay…Jaune." said Sam as he gave one more long stare at Jaune's face and then turned to the front.

As they walked in silence, Jaune mulled over Ruby's words after his…punishment. Jaune shivered at that, he can't believe that Ruby did that to him in front of everybody. Seriously, they won't stop staring at his face now.

" _Jaune the thing you seem to have not noticed is the fact that Sam's words were weird. They precisely said the number of knights remaining were 'fifty'…it was like he was sure there were only fifty left. That means two things, he has close ties with someone in the higher echelons of society or that he has close ties with someone who is a Knight and still alive."_

" _Why would you think that Ruby?" asked Jaune as he resisted the urge to scratch his face, confused on what Ruby was trying to say._

 _With a tone of exasperation Ruby continued her voice low so only Jaune could hear her "Think about it, would Mistral release information like that to their soldiers? It would spread rumors, make morale crumble and further destabilize the Kingdom._

" _So…propaganda?"_

" _Exactly."_

"… _Alright, so what you're suggesting is th-"_

" _Yes, how could Sam, a low level militiaman know this type of information?" Ruby finished Jaune's sentence._

" _It could have leaked?" he suggested, still skeptical of the whole idea. "There could be dozens of reasons why he would know that information Ruby."_

" _That's true…but I think we need to keep a closer eye on him, I have a feeling that he's the person we need to rely on to make it in this era, but we need to remember that he is hiding secrets as well. Until we find out what they are, we can't fully trust him."_

"Hunter Jaune is everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh Sam I'm alright just thinking that's all, and I told you to call me Jaune."

"I'm sorry about that, but it is hard to address someone as skilled as you by their first name…" said Sam apologetically.

"Skilled…I can't really call myself skilled, there were a lot of people I know who were probably as good or more than me at fighting." said Jaune as he thought of the past.

"Really? Who would be more skilled then you Hunter." asked Sam interested in knowing who was better than the Hunters Jaune and Ruby who had decimated hundreds of Grimm 'by themselves' he might add.

"Well…Ruby would be one of them." Jaune stated, but at that Sam just laughed slightly.

"Other than your wife my friend." jested Sam his elbow hitting Jaune's side, but Jaune didn't pay attention to that, he paid more attention that what was just said.

"…My wife?"

"Aren't you and Hunter Ruby married?" asked Sam his tone slightly confused now.

"OF COURS-"Jaune was about to yell out a denial, but then looked over at Ruby who had heard him yell. At her questioning glance, Jaune signaled that it was nothing and after a hesitant nod Ruby slowly turned to continue her watch. However, as she turned a grin had appeared when she saw his face again…revenge could be so sweet sometimes.

As Jaune turned back to Sam and whispered to him "Of course we're not married! What gave you that idea?"

"I am so sorry Hunter, I just assumed that you two were married because of how close you both seemed." apologized Sam as he started to sweat a little.

"Its…it's alright, but seriously Ruby and I married? How old do you think we are?"

At that Sam looked at Jaune and then at Ruby, he then just shrugged his shoulders "As old as my sisters at least."

"Sisters? You have family?" asked Jaune as the involuntarily thought of his own sisters popped up.

Of course! How old do you think I am my friend?" said Sam as he tried to redirect the topic to buy time for him to regain his wits.

"At least thirty." Jaune replied instantly and Sam's shoulder sagged.

"You were close…I'm actually twenty-eight." said Sam dejectedly

At this Jaune felt a little bad for the twenty-eight year old "So you're single then?"

At that Sam regained his good mood. "Nope, I have a wife and a daughter." As he mentioned his daughter, Sam seemed to inflate even more. "She's a good child, has her mom's eyes and looks just like me."

"That's…nice." said Jaune, not really sure what he should say next in this situation. As he contemplated this, Sam seemed to go on about his wife and child, his brown eyes shining with an inexplicable light. The men and woman around them just sighed as they heard Sam talking, they had already gotten used to this.

"There he goes again" one muttered

"He always does this! He always seemed the most professional of us all, and then when his family is asked about he becomes this…this…imbecile." said another

During all of this Jaune, while thinking of a way to respond, was also reevaluating his opinion of Sam. He had seemed like a respectable and polite person, but Jaune may have misjudged his…personality...

"How about your sisters?" interrupted Jaune as Sam was again reiterating how his child was going to grow up to be a beautiful girl for the…fifth time?

Sam seemed to clam up suddenly when Jaune mentioned his sisters. "Yeah…my sisters, they...have their quirks I guess."

"Quirks?" asked Jaune, his interest piqued. 'Now this seemed interesting.'

"Well…they are both twins for a start, and they look like my mother, but …" Sam trailed off, his previous excitement seemingly dying out. His voice going back to how it was originally.

"Well?"

"One is…well…obsessed at becoming a hero and the other is looking for her…'Prince'" said Sam as he covered his face with his hand, embarrassed at saying those words.

"…How old did you say they were?"

"As old as you and Hunter Ruby."

"…"

"…"

"You have my sympathy." said Jaune as he patted Sam's shoulders. The one who had an obsession to become a hero didn't really bother Jaune that much. He had that type of dream too, if she reined in that desire to become one without endangering her comrades that would be fine. What worried him was Sam's other sister who was obsessed over her…"Prince". Seriously, who would believe in Princes on a white horse appearing to save the day? Even during this time it was unbelievable!

As Jaune scoffed at the very idea, he saw a set of towers that were slowly becoming visible. Getting Sam's attention to the two towers, Sam sighed in relief.

"We're almost there, just a few more minutes and we should be able to see the outer layer of the city." said Sam as he adjusted the scabbard on his side. Motioning to the others around them, the guards adjusted their own weapons as well and put on helms?

"What's goin-"Jaune was about to speak, but in his hand was shoved a decorated helmet, this one was bronze and hid the bottom of the face. It was similar to what everyone else was wearing, but it seemed to have a kind of feathered plume at the end.

"Please wear this Hun- I mean Jaune, Mistral tradition dictates that any military force who enter the Capitol or Mistral Hill, be shown as a disciplined and trained troop." said Sam as he put his own helmet on his head.

"Tradition?" muttered Jaune as he hesitated on putting on the helm, Sam who heard him just nodded in confirmation.

"It's an old tradition and wasn't really enforced till recently, but the Mistralian military has been cracking down on it now." explained Sam as he looked around to make sure the men and woman under his 'temporarily' command were all set.

"Wouldn't I stand out though? This helmet is somewhat… different and my armor is not really part of Mistral."

"Don't worry, what you're holding is an extra Knight's helm from the military supply we have and…" Sam took a pause as he observed Jaune's current armor. It wasn't much different from what he wore when he was in Beacon. It just included a bit more armor on his chest area and vitals, of course all in white or gray. "…you shouldn't have much trouble with what you're wearing. Some Knights wear different kinds of armor, so you should be fine for now."

"…Why do I have to wear this anyway Ruby and I are not even from the Mistralian military?" said Jaune still not wearing the helmet given to him.

"…"

"Sam?"

"Jaune, I'll be honest with you, even though you and Ruby saved us you are an enigma. While the men and I can somewhat trust you…the Mistralian higher ups are another story. In the best case scenario they let you go, in the worst case scenario…they execute you as spies." replied Sam a frown on his face.

Jaune was speechless they would be executed as spies, even though the real enemy were the Grimm!

When Sam saw Jaune's slight shock, his frown deepened further. "I'm sorry Jaune, but since the expansion of Mistral Hill, the other Kingdoms are looking at us with interest. Mantle especially, is watching us closely for any weakness, so paranoia is quite high."

'Mantle…that must be what Atlas was called before the Great War.' thought Jaune as a sad realization crept upon him. 'I had gotten used to everyone working together to survive, but now two hundred years in the past and distrust is everywhere. '

As Jaune's expression changed, Sam thought that sadness was directed towards the current situation. "Don't worry Jaune, that's why we have this plan in place. Once we get you and Ruby past the gate it will be a simple task of getting equipment that make you stand out less." he said slapping a hand on Jaune's shoulders to reassure him.

Jaune appreciated Sam's words, but…" Sam wouldn't this be treason on for you and your men? In fact why would you trust us this much?"

At that Sam just gave a laugh. "I've talked it over with everyone before, we owe you two our lives and that's not easily forgotten. Also for you second question…for some odd reason I can't explain…I think I can trust you and Ruby."

"…Thank you Sam." said Jaune, grateful that everyone was doing this at the risk of being branded traitors.

"No problem my friend." replied Sam, looking at Jaune's face with a grin, but after a few moments that grin turned to laughter. "By the way, this should…pfttt… also help cover the marks on your face."

"The mar-" Jaune stopped talking, he had almost forgotten that the punishment Ruby gave him was still on his face, Quickly Jaune put the helmet on and while it wasn't comfortable it didn't impede him that much. Oh! He had almost forgotten.

"What about Ruby?" asked Jaune, Ruby's attire wasn't really suited as Mistralian garb either. Like him, she wore the same combat clothes when attending Beacon. The only difference was the white cloak she now had and the very small, unnoticeable, lightweight armor that covered her chest.

"Don't worry, we also gave her an extra Knight's helmet, while it will be uncomfortable for her we can pass her as a Knight that was returning from a mission or an extra escort for this supply run." At Jaune's dubious gaze Sam continued "The guards are also lax in inspection, they will just make sure who we are and that we are following regulations. Once they see a Knight's helmet they won't bother you."

"…That's rather poor security, wouldn't a person steal a Knight's helmet then and just pose as one." asked Jaune

However, Sam just shook his head "Impossible, no one is brave enough to do that and when initiated as a Knight you are also rewarded a medal with your name on it. It's also awarded from either the Knight Commander or the King."

"Wouldn't I need the medal then?"

"Nope, the guards won't question you, but if you try to pose as one inside the city…without that medal…it would be immediate death." said Sam gravely "So once we are inside we need that helmet off and get you into some Mistral armor."

"Aright, sorry about all the questions Sam I just need to be sure that nothing will go wrong." said Jaune as he turned to look at Ruby to make sure she was good. Her helmet was slightly smaller than his, but she seemed okay, in fact with her white cloak covering her she looked a little…menacing.

"It's no problem at all, being thorough is a sign of great leadership." replied Sam as he gave a cursory glance over everyone, making sure everything was good.

After everything was answered, Jaune made small talk with Sam. Ruby had even come to join them as they were only some minutes away from Mistral Hill's gates and both of the 'pretend' Knights were supposed to be in front of the procession.

Finally they had reached the gates and spotted two guards in front of it. The gate of the city wasn't impressive, but it looked like it could take quite a beating before it collapses, the walls were also quite tall so Grimm couldn't just leap over. At regular intervals men with bows could be seen stationed on top.

However, the most impressive sight was the fortress that was sitting on top of a hilltop inside the city walls. Jaune could understand why Ruby would think this might be Beacon Academy because of the similar architecture from far away, no one can deny that Beacon looked like a castle, but while Beacon was made to teach students. This fortress was obviously set up to defend the city and its inhabitants.

Still, Jaune only saw the outer walls and the Keep. He would have to get closer to see more details, but they would need to deal with this first.

As they approached the two guards that were on either side of the gates eyed them warily. As one raised his hand the whole convoy stopped.

"Hello Sir Knights, can you please tell us what are in the wagons?" said the guard on the left, bowing his head slightly to both Jaune and Ruby, but his eyes were quite focused. His hand wasn't gripping his weapon, but you could tell he was different from the volunteers of supply runs just by aura and demeanor alone.

"We're jus-"started Sam, but he was glared at by the Mistralian gate guard.

"I was asking your Superior." said the guard, his tone disapproving and staring at Sam.

"I can understand that the Mistralian Military Doctrine is hard, but please abide by it as much as possible volunteer." The guard stated then turned to Jaune "Now, Sir Knight what are you transporting in the wagons?"

For a moment Jaune didn't know what to answer, he knew that they carried mostly arrows and maybe some armor since he had this helmet, but saying anything wrong could expose them, luckily he didn't need to.

"We are carrying several cases of dust arrows, with an assortment of equipment ranging from some swords and spears to replacement armor. We are also carrying some injured in the second wagon." stated Ruby her voice slightly muffled from the helmet she was wearing. 'Good thing she had the foresight to look at the wagon's contents minutes before arriving here.'

The gate keeper turned to her. "Wounded?"

"Yes, we were ambushed by Grimm several times throughout our journey and suffered for it as well." said Ruby the people around them couldn't hear it, but Jaune who knew her most heard the remorseful undertone she had. If they had only discovered the convoy sooner…

The gate keeper seemed to mull over her words then. "…I understand Sir Knights. I shall inform the Commander about the Grimm ambush, for now we shall inspect the wagon's contents to make sure they are valid."

Ruby just gave a nod and with that the guard moved towards the wagons to inspect what they held. His partner remained watching them from his post. Jaune wanted to praise Ruby for her quick thinking and acting skill, but didn't speak because any mistake here could endanger them all. For a lax inspection this was somewhat terrifying to wait through!

So the silence stretched on for a minute, then another, until the previous guard walked back from his inspection.

"It seems everything is in order, the gate will open momentarily Sir Knights." said the guard signaling to the top of the gate house. At his gesture the gates slowly started to open and the guard turned to address Sam. "As per usual your headgear is to remain on until you reach the designated point. You may then take them off."

Sam just nodded in response and the guard seemed satisfied with that as he moved to take position opposite of his partner to keep guard. The gates cranked open even further and it seemed that Jaune and Ruby would have no problem getting in, but some plans never survive first contact because the gates that were just opening…were now stopped.

Everyone was confused, even the two gate keepers as both glanced up to see what was wrong. However, a figure soon moved between the partly opened gates followed by two others. The figures were of two females and a male, with one of the woman taking the lead. These people though were not ordinarily because all three bore themselves with a kind of aura that far surpassed the gate keepers and convoy guards.

The amour they wore wasn't ordinarily either, while it appeared to be made of simple bronze and lightly decorated. To Ruby's eyes, the individual parts of the armor were made perfectly to provide maximum protection around vital areas and allowed the wearer to perform unhindered from the weight. The weapons were also masterpieces, even if they were only swords and shields.

Still…Ruby couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, while the armor and weapons were top-notch they couldn't compare to future technology. Even Jaune's sword Crocea Mors, rumored to have been made during the Great War was better then what the people in front of them had. However, from the way the three walked, these people were not amateurs.

The most noticeable evidence for this was the fact that the group approaching them wore the same helms Jaune and Ruby were now wearing. A helmet with a slight plume of threads on top, and the lead figure even had a different plumage from the rest, hers being red in color. This confirmed for both time travelers that the three in front of them…were actual Knights of Mistral.

As the gate keepers saw who was coming they straightened up immediacy and saluted the lead figure. The woman though ignored them and continued towards the convoy group, her eyes focused on both Jaune and Ruby.

When she got closer Jaune glanced at Sam to find out what was going on, but realized that Sam had taken a few steps backwards. Jaune almost thought he saw a hint of recognition in Sam's eyes, but wasn't able to pursue it as the lead figure had stopped in front of him.

A silence ensued, the woman just stood before him and through the visor of the helmet Jaune could see brown eyes staring at him intently. However, Jaune didn't know what to do and neither did Ruby. Were they supposed to say something specific to the person in front of them a pass code or a phrase maybe? Were they supposed to salute her? They had no information on this situation to make a calculated choice…

As the moments dragged on, the gate keepers who had saluted and the Knights who were with her had grown weary of the two 'supposed' Knights. The gate keepers had looked in disbelief at Jaune and Ruby, their salutes now forgotten as they rested their hands on their swords. The Knights who had followed the lead one made no such moves, but one could tell their hands strayed to their scabbards.

Jaune reviewed all the information he had in his head, he didn't have enough information, but if he did nothing they would be ousted. If he did do something and it was wrong they would be ousted. Either outcome was bad. However, as the atmosphere slowly turned chilly and the Knights were now putting their hands on weapons.

Jaune acted quickly and did the same salute the gate keepers had done and only said a simple word.

"Hello."

"…"

"…"

Jaune wanted to beat himself up. Really that was all he could come up with! A simple 'Hello', this was obviously not going to wo-it actually worked!

The gate keepers when they saw Jaune's salute and one word acknowledgement had moved their hands away from their weapons, but that was because their mouths were open in shock. The Knights as well had moved their wandering hands away from their swords. Mirth could be seen in their eyes, but was soon replaced by worry as both glanced at the lead Knight.

However, the leader had not visibly reacted to Jaune's action, instead she just spoke, her words also muffled by the helmet she wore "What are in the wagons Knight?"

"…Military supplies of weapons and armor for Mistral Hill." Jaune replied quickly, relieved that she redirected the entire subject. "We are also carrying wounded as well." added Jaune

The woman just stared at him, her eyes searched his for any deceit. For one terrible moment Jaune thought that his eyes would betray him, but finally the woman had just nodded and walked around him.

She was probably inspecting the wagons again, undoubtedly making sure Jaune's claim was true. One of the knights followed her, while the remaining one, the other woman, just stood watching them all.

The gate keepers had remained where they were, their mouths now closed, but they were still visibly shocked at Jaune's casualness. They didn't even protests against the knights' reexamination of the wagons. So it was again dead silent as everyone remained quiet as the second investigation took place.

The remaining Knight that was with them though, had no interest to keep quiet as she whispered to both Jaune and Ruby. "You two must be new Knights right? Since I don't recognize you at all."

"Yes…we are new Knights." Said Jaune, making sure his voice didn't betray his deceit.

"That's nice to know…Monty knows we need all the help we can get…what are you names if you don't mind me asking?"

"…It's Jaune and Ruby" he answered as his eyes watched the supposed Commander looking through the wagons, opening a crate to make sure the contents were correct. This search was a lot more thorough then before...

"My names Kay and the man following our Commander right now is Matt." said the now identified Kay, her posture relaxed as she spoke.

"…Should we really be talking like this?

"Well…no…" at that Kay seemed to flounder a bit "But we rarely see any of our group that arrive here. Most that do…are too wounded to speak. Besides I wanted to speak to the person who had the gall to acknowledge our Commander with a 'Hello'."

"Yeah…that might have been a mistake…"

"You think?" said Kay, her voice low as she gave Jaune an incredulous look "If you weren't a Knight you would probably be dead by now."

"Yeah Jaune…next time be more careful with your words please." whispered Ruby giving Jaune a look that said 'Mess up again and your face gets another punishment.'

Jaune could only sigh, you can't blame him right? It had to be fatigue or something that was messing with him or some kind of…of...God making him a comedic subject. This really wasn't fair.

"How about the commander's name?" asked Jaune halfheartedly.

"…" Kay's relaxed position instantly turned tense. She was now giving him a look that was both suspicious and genuinely surprised.

'Not again!' thought Jaune as he looked at Ruby who was giving him the 'look' and no it wasn't the puppy dog one, it was the one that said 'I am going to kill him now' look.

Thankfully for Jaune, Kay still believed that Jaune and Ruby were genuine Knights and gave them the benefit of the doubt. "You must have been living under a rock or something if you didn't know your own Knight Commander."

"…Ruby and I were just knighted recently so we don't know much about the group yet." said Jaune as he attempted to deceive Kay, Ruby nodded with Jaune in an attempt to support that fact. 'She was still going to kill him.'

For a moment Kay seemed to consider their words, but ultimately she accepted them ...for now…

"I see…anyway for future greetings, just address the Commander as 'Sir' or Commander Ni-oh cr-"Kay's words didn't finish as the Knight Commander had come back with Matt in tow.

As she stood before Jaune again, the now identified Commander of the Knights spoke to Jaune "It looks like everything is in order…you can enter the city now."

"Thank you Commander." said Jaune as respectfully called the Knight by her true title now. At that one could see the Commander's eyes rise a bit, but when she glanced at Kay she seemed to understand.

"Alright then….move out." said the Commander as she turned around to enter the city motioning for Jaune, Ruby and the convoy to follow. At that Jaune felt like everything was going to be okay, they made it past two inspections! They fooled the Commander of the Knights! They could finally take a break inside the city and plan their next moves-.

"Oh! Before you enter can I see the medals that the King gave you?" said the Commander as she stopped, turning her head to look at both Jaune and Ruby.

"…"

"It's just protocol, but I need to be familiar with the Knights under my command."

"…"

"…Are you listening can I please get your medals."

"…"

"It's silver and oval shaped, the King should have given it to you personally. It's a maj-."

Jaune wasn't paying attention anymore, his thoughts were actually just blank…really…just….really? First the Grimm and now this? Could this get any worse?

"Knights if you won't show the medal then I need you to take off the helms so I can see your faces." said the Commander annoyance apparent in her voice. "If you lost your medal you will be penalized, but I should be able to at least recon-

Oh no…Oh nonononono anything, but that! His face was still marred by Ruby's punishment, if everyone were to see it…

"Commander." interrupted Kay "Both of them are new, so you probably won't know them."

'My savior!' thought Jaune, maybe he wouldn't have to take off the helm now, but Jaune's hopes were soon dashed.

"…If that is so they need to take off the helmets and be taken into custody until they can be verified then." Said the Commander "So whoever you are! Take off the headgear and submit to Mistral authority!"

"…"

"This is you final warning, take of the helm and surrender yourself, those with you will also be taken to ascertain their identities. If you do not surrender…" With a gesture from the Commander, both Knights Kay and Matt withdrew their weapons, with Kay a little more hesitant to do so. "You will be taken by force."

"Jaune what should we do?" asked Ruby as her hand strayed to her back where Crescent Rose was.

However, Jaune didn't know what to do. If they take off their disguise it would be execution for impersonating Knights. They could fight, but they would be fighting against fellow human beings. If they ran maybe…no that wouldn't work either, that would just mean the people who helped them would be taken and executed in their place as traitors.

As Jaune tried to figure a way out of this the Commander had already accepted their silence as an answer. "On my authority as Knight Commander Pyrrha Athena Nikos, you are to be tak-."

"Wait!" yelled Jaune startling the Commander out of her next words.

What did she just say? Did she just say Pyrrha Athena Nikos? That meant…this was Pyrrha's ancestor! If she was they might have a chance at this.

"We surrender!" continued Jaune as he moved his hands up, motioning to Ruby to do the same.

Athena, because Jaune sure wasn't going to call her Pyrrha…it would be too confusing that way, was surprised at Jaune's surrender, but recovered quickly.

"…If you do surrender, take off the helmets." said Athena as she motioned to the Knight helms still on their heads. Jaune wasted no time and took the helmet off his face…unfortunately it seems that in all the excitement of finding his previous partner's ancestor, he forgot that…

"…Is that a…" asked Athena as she observed Jaune's face.

'Oh dam-'

"…cat on your face?"

"…It's actually a dog." Corrected Jaune, yes Ruby's punishment was public humiliation by drawing the picture of Zwei on his cheek…don't ask how she got the marker.

"…"

"…"

Athena unsheathed her weapon and ran straight at Jaune.

Chapter 4 End-Knight Commander

* * *

 ***Static filled the entire screen until…the face of the author came back onto screen.**

" **Finally I got this working again. Hello everybody Veran Aval here I hoped you enjoyed Chapter 4. Not my best chapter, but I might look it over again to add a few sentences here and there, make it more fluid. I didn't want to waste another week without releasing another chapter though so here you go. As usual I do try my best to correct Grammar and Spelling, but yeah…I might miss some, but I do reread chapters to improve them, so there's that.**

" **Also sorry no omake…really there is nothing to wri-."**

" **Veran?" asked a voice**

" **Oh Remnant you look better…by the way were you the one who gave Ruby the marker?"**

" **Yes…but Veran?"**

" **I see…next time don't use your powers for something so childish its quite bother-**

" **VERAN!"**

" **What?! What now?!" I yelled, jeez I only wanted to yell at her for doing things that might ruin the stor-why was she pointing up?**

 **I looked up and saw an open portal…**

" **Why m-?" I didn't get to finish my sentence as a foot smashed down on my face.**

" **Remnant! Where's the author I need his help?!" yelled Aqua as her foot was painfully on my head. At Remnant's pointing she looked down and then…stomped on my head further.**

" **What the Hell!" I said tossing her off me, but then was grabbed by my collar.**

" **I need HELP!" yelled Aqua as she shook me silly.**

" **If you need my help why did you try to kill me?!" I yelled back.**

" **Because you made Remnant!"**

"… **Alright I'll concede you that."**

" **HEY!" yelled Remnant**

" **Anyway…what do you need help with?"I asked Aqua**

" **Its awful, things are going wrong in my universe." Said Aqua**

" **Explain."**

" **Well…."**

* * *

Aqua's Universe 1 hour ago.

Omake/Extra

A portal opened up in Ozpin's office and out stepped Aqua.

"Damn Remnant, never should have let her in my universe at all." muttered Aqua as she angrily gripped her hands together.

"So…Ozpin why did you call me?" said a voice

'Huh?' thought Aqua. Oh she was in Ozpin's office and it seemed like he was making a video call.

"James…I need your help…" said Ozpin to the now identified James Ironwood who was on the screen currently.

"This isn't about your coffee addiction again is it? I told you that was going to be the last time I help you." said Ironwood as he observed his friend's face. Glynda must have found Ozpin's coffee stash again judging by the bandages covering him.

"No my friend it's…its… much worse." said Ozpin as he drank a cup of…uhh…instant coffee.

"Really?" asked Ironwood surprised that Ozpin was being totally serious right now.

"Yes it is…"

"Alright then…what's the problem?" said Ironwood now focused on what Ozpin had to say, it must be serious to warrant such a ton-

"Marriage my friend…" As soon as those words left Ozpin's mouth Ironwood was half tempted to shut down the communication then and there. Luckily Ironwood had a lot of self-control and attempted to understand what Ozpin just said.

"…Are you getting married?"

"No..no…it's a marriage between students." said Ozpin, but Ironwood had shut down the communication when Ozpin said it was a marriage between students.

A few minutes later Ozpin managed to get Ironwood back on the line, but this time the General was drinking his own cup of coffee.

'TRAITOR' thought Ozpin, but he kept his thoughts to himself, he needed Ironwood's help.

"So…you called me…on a secure line…to tell me that your students are getting married?" said Ironwood as he carefully sipped his own cup of coffee.

"James…I called you so you could send you fleet here to help me." Ozpin stated bluntly

For a moment Ironwood froze, his coffee frozen in his hand. "What?"

"You heard me. I need the Atlesian fleet here, right now, so Beacon Academy doesn't turn into a battlefield James." said Ozpin as he observed Ironwood's reaction.

"Wait…wait just a minute Ozpin, what do you mean? How could a marriage result in this? In fact how could I get my fleet into Vale's airspace, it's illegal."

"Don't worry about getting you fleet here, I pulled some strings so you could come here without getting reprimanded and this is not just a simple marriage James." At Ironwoods questioning face he continued. "This is a marriage between two individuals, a Mr. Jaune Arc and Ms. Ruby Rose."

Files appeared on Ironwood's computer as Ozpin sent both of the student's records to him.

"Okay…so…tell me again why you need the Atlesian Fleet?" said Ironwood as he read both reports. These students weren't really that abnormal, they both had their positives and negatives, so why Ozpin would worry was beyond him?

"James…I'm not worried about the students, I am more worried about their family."

"The problem?" asked Ironwood, he really didn't understand.

Ozpin sighed "Let me tell you what the parents do for a living."

Both Aqua and Ironwood were interested in what Ozpin was going to say. Aqua, because she couldn't oversee everything so knowing the lives of her 'children' was exciting and Ironwood because he wanted to know what worried Ozpin so much.

"The father of Ms. Rose, a Taiyang Xiao Long, is a champion fighter. He has won several tournaments all over the world. You should know too right?"

Ironwood nodded at this "He came to Atlas to fight in a tournament, a very brave and skilled man."

"He is, and then there is Ms. Rose' uncle a Qrow Branwen, another person you should be familiar with." said Ozpin

"He's the one that runs that famous detective agency isn't he?"

"Yes, he is also skilled enough to be equal to Taiyang or more." confirmed Ozpin as he brought both pictures of the men in question onto the computer.

"Okay…so we have a champion fighter and a detective, is that what's worrying you Ozpin?" asked Ironwood skeptical that these two men would warrant a movement of the Atlesian fleet.

"No it's the mother I am worried about."

"Ozpin…are you kidding with me right now?"

"No I am not." Ozpin brought up a picture of a black-red haired woman that looked a lot like an older Ruby Rose. "Summer Rose, the second wife of Taiyang Xiao Long."

"Second wife?"

"Taiyang remarried after the first disappeared." Explained Ozpin…hopefully she wouldn't interfere.

"So what does Summer Rose do that has got you worried." asked Ironwood

"…She runs a flower shop…"

"…"

"…" The screen that was showing Ironwood's face cut off as he cut the connection a second time.

A few minutes later Ironwood was again on the screen, Ozpin's incessant ringing paid off, but the General was getting a little angry now.

"Ozpin what's the problem?! Are you telling me you need my fleet for a simple flower lady?" yelled Ironwood his face furious.

"James, calm down please, if you let me finish I was going to say Summer's real profession."

"Real profession?" asked Ironwood, calming down a significant amount.

"Yes…Summer Rose despite her current job is actually the head of Vale's Secret Service." said Ozpin as he took a sip of his…disgusting instant coffee. Maybe he should use the school's fund to buy actual coffee…

Ironwood's face was frozen, and then he exploded. "Wait! How does this even make sense how could a flower seller run the most covert operations organization in the entire world!"

"You don't want to know. Oh and James I advise that you don't spread this, she already has agents in your government and you could be killed instantly." Ozpin stated

Ironwood just rubbed his eyes a little. Of course he wasn't going to expose it, too much risk to the people around him and it would make him look insane to everyone to accuse a flower seller to be the Head of a Covert Organization!

"Okay…so Summer Rose is the head of the Valean intelligence and you want my fleet to stand by to make sure nothing happens right?"

"…Yes." said Ozpin as he whistled in the air.

"Ozpin…"

Ozpin wasn't paying attention anymore, maybe he should spend some time outside, actually get some real coffee…it was quite nice outside too.

"Ozpin…what about Mr. Arc's parents, what do they do."

"Oh…well Mr. Arc's father Julian and his sisters are just Valean Special Forces nothing that worrying." said Ozpin as he brought up a picture of Julian Arc, a man that looked much like his son. A row of seven other pictures of Jaune's sisters also appeared, all in their Special Forces uniforms.

"Okay so that only means eight Special Forces that my forces need to deal with, that should be fine." said Ironwood as he just closed his eyes to think a little

"…His father Julian also runs the Valean Special Forces Division."

"…Say that again?" asked Ironwood

"His father is-."

"Stop…stop right now Ozpin, aren't they on the same side?"

"Well…yes, but Julian's Division values Honor above all things, so you can say that Vale's intelligence group that uses covert spies and such are…not respected in their eyes. Furthermore, Vale's Special Forces would follow their leader to Hell itself, the same could be said to the intelligence agency that follows Summer Rose."

"…So Ozpin, what you are telling me is that Mr. Arc's father would not want his son marrying a spy's daughter is that what this is about."

"Got it in one James." said Ozpin as he dumped his instant coffee. He was definitely buying better coffee with the school funds…hopefully Glynda wouldn't notice.

"Alright, so you want my fleet to-."

"There's also Jaune's mother…"

"Damnit Ozpin! What now, what does Mr. Arc's mother do! She doesn't happen to rule the criminal underworld does she!" yelled Ironwood his cool broken. He couldn't believe so much trouble was happening because of a marriage!

"Of course not, Sarah Arc would never run a criminal underground network, she's just a simple manager." said Ozpin folding his hands in front of him.

Ironwood did not believe Ozpin a single bit. "…of?"

"…The Albion Knights."

Suffice to say Ironwood flipped the table, not literally of course, but he was close to doing so. As Ozpin waited for Ironwood to calm down, he thought of the Albion Knights, a PMC(Private Military Corporation ) that were…archaic in a sense combing old technology with new ones. They were quite similar to the Elite Mistral Guards, who used weapons of old in their training regime and were said to be employed in counter-terror operations and security contracts. All in all, they also valued honor and would not take a job that would have them fight unjustly.

Later when Ironwood calmed down, he asked Ozpin some crucial questions, but Aqua who was in the room wasn't paying attention anymore, she was shocked and wandered out of the room without even looking back.

* * *

 **Back at Veran's Home/Fortress**

" **Okay….so you want me to solve this how?" I asked Aqua after she explained the problem.**

" **Make something to stop them" said Aqua as she shook my collar once again.**

" **Oh sure, let me just summon my Counter Guar- oh wait different thing show entirely! I can only change a story when it suits the plot, and this is not my problem!"**

" **It is your problem!"**

" **No its not, besides how am I going to stop three factions that are trying to kill each other!"**

" **Well…they are not going to kill each other. They'd probably use low-powered dust rounds and blunted weapons…"**

" **Oh that makes everything better! The Valean Secret Service, their Special Forces Division, the PMC Company Albion Knights and probably the Atlesian Fleets as well all fighting at Beacon Academy what else could go wrong!"**

" **Well…" said Aqua as she looked away**

" **Oh…oh no….what now?" I asked**

" **Its…complicated."**

 **In moments I pushed myself from her grasp and put Aqua in a headlock. "Explain?"**

* * *

Back in Aqua's Universe-20 minutes ago.

Aqua didn't know how long she wandered around. All she knew was that she was still in Beacon Academy. So she just walked by passing students that could not see, hear or touch her and wandered out onto the roof of Beacon Academy's buildings.

However, when Aqua wandered onto the rooftop, she spotted a familiar red-haired figure sitting on the ground staring at the sky…it was Pyrrha.

'Oh Pyrrha…I am so sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen.' thought Aqua as she too sat next to Pyrrha, but because of her powers Pyrrha didn't react to her at all.

So the two stared at the sky in silence for a while, it was sad really...

Pyrrha did have a genuine crush on Jaune after all and it was horrible to see it end like this do to outside interference…still Aqua had to help Remnant…

As both Aqua and Pyrrha stared into the sky, watching clouds past Aqua was suddenly hit with an idea. Pyrrha still had a chance, and if she kept pursuing Jaune then the truth will come out. During the courthouse trial Pyrrha lost her cool, but now when everything has calmed down, she could finally set things straight. She just needs to keep trying to reach out to her leader and that will surely work.

However…Aqua looked at Pyrrha who was staring blankly into the sky. The current Pyrrha didn't really have the motivation or confidence to do so, but no matter Aqua could fix that. It wasn't even against the rules! She was just trying to give Pyrrha confidence! She wasn't making up reasons to restart her ship alright!

So with that reason in mind, Aqua slowly reached out to place a hand just above Pyrrha's shoulder. 'This should only take a few seconds' thought Aqua as she started to gather power in her hand. Soon a blue color engulfed it and unknown to all except for Aqua it started to be absorbed into Pyrrha.

Still, after a second of giving Pyrrha a confidence boost, Aqua thought it wasn't enough and soon that second turned into five, then ten. After a total of thirty seconds passed the glow in her hand ceased and Aqua gave out a contented sigh.

"This should fix everything" muttered Aqua as she stretched her arms in front of her and turned to see if that confidence boost worked. Pyrrha still had that blank stare, as she looked at the sky…it must have not wor-oh it's working now.

Aqua enjoyed the life coming back into Pyrrha's eyes. It was enjoyable to see that she was getting back to normal now and could ask Jaune to explain thin-is she laughing?

"HAHAHAHAHA…Jaune… you will explain things to me, but first…I need to get you away from Ruby…maybe I should put Jaune in a prison…or maybe the basement of the house." said Pyrrha as she put a hand onto her chin.

When Aqua heard that her mouth was open, did she just turn Pyrrha into a…

"Wait! I am getting ahead of myself, first how am I going to capture you…I can't just waltz in and take you, too many things could happen…" muttered Pyrrha unaware that Aqua was hearing and watching everything. "OH I GOT IT"

In front of Aqua Pyrrha had taken out a…scroll? Okay…maybe she hasn't lost it yet…

After dialing a number a female voice answered. "Hello, Pyrrha is that you? You haven't called in a while, did anything happen?"

"No nothing happened mom, I just had a couple of things to take care of. You know I'm very busy at Beacon Academy." said Pyrrha her voice very cheerful.

"Is that so, well alright, but if you need anything just ask." said Pyrrha's mother who was on the other side of the line.

"Well…there is one thing."

"Just name it my dear daughter. You know your dad and me just want you to be happy."

"Well…can you please send me…"

The next words shattered Aqua into a million pieces as she quickly made a portal to get help for this madness.

"The Mistral Guard."

* * *

 **Back at Veran's Home/Fortress**

" **So you turned Pyrrha into a…" I asked *nod from Aqua**

" **And her parents have under their command the…" *another nod from Aqua**

" **So she just sent for them to capture…"* several more nods from Aqua**

" **Wait….WAIT A MINUTE! Would her parents even allow that?" I yelled at Aqua releasing her from the headlock.**

"… **Yes, her parents would do anything for her, in fact this is the first time that Pyrrha had asked for help, so they would leap at the chance to do this for her." said Aqua as she rubbed her neck.**

" **So…you are telling me, in addition to all those factions, we now have to deal with the Elite Mistral Guard!"**

"… **Yes."**

 **"Why is everyone in your universe so powerful?!"said Remnant surprised her world's counterparts were so different from Aqua's.**

 **"I don't know, I can't control everything!" replied Aqua**

" **Oh this is fantastic! What's next the White Fang? Cinder Fall and her group?!" I yelled, but then I slowly turned to Aqua. "We don't have to deal with them right?"**

 **Thankfully Aqua just shook her head confused. "Why would you say the White Fang that peaceful organization run by Adam Taurus?"**

 **At this Remnant had to interject to this. "Peaceful! Adam Taurus! The guy's a maniac!"**

" **Language Remnant, besides if your Adam Taurus is as you quote "A maniac" my world's Adam is actually quite nice, he's even married to a human."**

" **So he's not an obsessed over Blake? Well…that's a first…" said Remnant as she threw her hands in the air.**

" **How about Cinder Fall?" I asked Aqua, 'Hey even I the author am curious and not omnipotent.'**

" **Cinder Fall…I feel like I should know that person…oh you must be talking about that nice Lady who runs that successful ice cream shop" she replied as she smacked a fist into her open palm**

"… **Just forgot it."**

" **So will you help me?" asked Aqua as she looked to me in hope**

"… **I'll see what I can do, for now let me address the readers first. So readers sorry about all this, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and see you next time.**

 **Review and Criticize-Veran Aval out.**

… **Meanwhile Unaware to even the Author.**

* * *

Atlesian Carrier-The Stalwart

"General why are we moving the fleet to Vale?" inquired a voice.

"Oh it's you Winter." said Ironwood as he looked up from his paperwork to see his subordinate Winter Schnee ask him that question. He had just handed her the order to move the fleet into Vale's airspace when she had asked. "An old friend of mine needed help."

"An old friend Sir?"

"Yes, in fact you should know him Winter, it's the Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"Ozpin…why would he want you at Beacon General?" asked Winter curious at Ozpin's sudden urge to invite an Atlas fleet over Beacon Academy. That was where her younger sister Weiss was studying.

"It's classified Winter…but since your sister is involved you should know this much." said Ironwood as he cupped his hands in front of his face.

"My sister Sir?" asked Winter, her mind a little shaken. 'What does this have to do with Weiss?'

"It appears that…an incident is going to occur in and around Beacon Academy. Your sister's team and another Beacon team seem to be the source of the problems that will occur." said Ironwood, carefully choosing his words.

"…An altercation sir?"

"Exactly."

"If I may General, what is this altercation about?" asked Winter, it must be serious to warrant a movement of the fleet.

"Its…" Ironwood tried to say more, but couldn't find the words to say that it was because of a marriage…suffice to say he chose the easier route. "…not your concern Winter, besides you will find out when we reach Beacon."

"But Sir." Winter tried to interject what could have happened? Was Weiss in danger?

"End of discussion Winter…for now just give out the orders." said Ironwood as he moved his head to face the paperwork that was still in front of him effectively ending the conversation.

"…Yes Sir." Said Winter giving a salute and exiting the General's office aboard the Stalwart. However, as soon as she gave out the orders to move the fleet, she quickly returned to her own room and took out her scroll.

With a quick dial a voice answered from the other side. "Hello?"

"This is Winter Schnee I need all the reports that you have from Beacon Academy in the last month."

"Ms. Schnee is that you? And reports from Beacon Academy in the last month? Why would you need that?"

"Just do it!"

"O-Of course Ms. Schnee, but you do know we work for your father…"

"Do…it" said Winter her voice threatening the poor man.

"…Its been forwarded, but Ms. Schnee just know that your father wil-" the man didn't get to finish another word as Winter ended the call and quickly pulled up all the files of reports from the agents that her father had stationed to watch over Weiss.

'Useless…useless' thought Winter as she scrolled through countless reports of Weiss' daily life in school.

Agent 105 "Weiss Schnee has gone to her dorm room, discontinuing surveillance will contin-" Useless

Agent 203 "Weiss Schnee has entered the cafeteria, she is eating a healthy diet of-." Useless

Agent 174 "Situation is developing in cafeteria will continue observation." Usele-wait…

Winter pulled up Agent 174's reports and read them quickly. It was dated three days ago and seemed to state that the leader of a neighboring team got into an 'argument?' with her sister's team. The following day it appeared that the agent tracked them to a courtroom, but was unable to enter do to the possibility of being discovered. However…

Agent 174 "The courtroom is an absolute mess, I have tried to ascertain what had happened here, but it is difficult. However, when Headmaster Ozpin passed by on a stretcher it appeared he was whispering a phrase "How can I tell them? How can I tell them?" This phrase was said over and over again, I was intrigued by this and followed Headmaster Ozpin to see if he would say anything else."

Winter continued reading

Agent 174 "I…I cannot believe that this has happened in my lifetime. In following Ozpin I have learned that Jaune Arc the leader of Team JNPR has just proposed marriage to Weiss Schn-"

Winter did not read the last words as her hand crushed the entire scroll. If she did, she would have seen the last lines of that sentence. "-proposed marriage to Weiss Schnee's leader Ruby Rose."

Unfortunately she didn't and even more unfortunate is the fact that the man who had forwarded the reports to her sent the original files. So in hindsight the files were completely destroyed when Winter had destroyed the scroll…

As Winter calmed down, she calmly reached into a drawer and pulled out her spare scroll. With an almost slow dialing she called the one man that would help her stop this foolishness…her father.

* * *

Vale-Junior's Bar

Junior Xiong watched the last of his men get taken down by the blond menace for the second time in his life. They didn't use actual weapons considering this was still a bar, but seriously how could she take down his men!

"Well, hello there." said the blonde menace "I would like a strawberry sunrise please, with no ice. Oh and one of those little umbrellas."

"Why…why are you doing this?" asked Junior as he backed away from the blonde.

"Because I need your help Junior." She answered as she sat at the bar's stool.

"…Help?"

"Yes help…you know who my mother is right?"

Junior nodded vigorously, he knew the blonde's mother alright, and there were whispers in the underground about her…the woman who killed without mercy or remorse. Junior couldn't help, but gulp at that.

"Good…now I need people to help me."

"People…you took out most of my guys how could I help you?"

"Not your people…the people my mother said would help me without question." said the blonde as she passed a note towards him that was given to her by her mom.

"…I…I know a few of them." replied Junior as he read the note. He almost wanted to run as some of these names were…

"That's good Junior…tell them to meet at your bar so I could talk to them." said the blonde "Also where is my Strawberry Sunrise?"

"Coming right up…" said Junior as he quickly moved to the back to make some calls to the people that she needed as well as to get her drink.

As the blonde watched Junior work she turned slightly to look at the carnage she unleashed. Men were sprawled everywhere, their groans could be heard as they painfully tried to get up or recover.

"Soon…Jaune Arc…you will pay." said the now revealed sister of Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long.


End file.
